Or is there a download problem? Or are the Linux versions not available yet? I keep getting a "Product not found" error whenever I try to download any Linux version of the update.

OK, so that wasn't actually earth-shattering news ...... I'll get my coat.

Did they catch that bug that, by default, keeps old versions installed and accessible by malware?

Oh, excuse me, that's a feature to enable backwards compatibility, and as such needs to be turned on by default to ensure the Great Unwashed Masses remain vulnerable^W compatible.

to quote the update description from the site http://java.sun.com/javase/6/webnotes/ReleaseNotes.html#160_04 (linked to so kindly by the author of the article): "Input methods implemented using the Java Input Method Framework may not work correctly on Red Hat 5 Linux desktop"

Java is a notorious litter bug with old versions left all over your harddisk. (Flash is another).

Not to mention all of the products where the uninstaller just disables or hides the damn thing!

The secunia PSI tool is very good at finding all of this litter and can be a boon in cleaning up. Free for private use. Haven't looked at it beyond that.

grrrr ... they should know better

Well the .Net framework allows both easy configuration of multiple versions to sit side-by-side as well as un-installs...

At this rate it won't be long before the Java Runtime will be the same download size too so why not just switch to J#?

<gets coat, waits for irate arguments this causes>

on my Mac and Linux boxes. And as a developer, I'd like my customers to be able to run my software.

you'd think that a kleptocrat the size of Microsoft could spell correctly.

It's .NHT in the original Russian; rendered as '.NYET' in English.

Just ask anybody who's tried to take a .NHT 3.0 app and run it on an operating system.

For my job, I work with .NET all the time, including 3.0. I has it's flaws, sure, but so does java. At least on Windows, .NET has far, far fewer flaws and better performance. On linux/mac there's always mono, although I'll admit mono's support is sketchy at times.

I still haven't gotten java to actually run without crashing on my linux install... not that I've tried very hard.

"With 5.0 Update 6 and later installed on the Windows platform, all applets are executed with the latest version of Java environment. So users who upgrade from more recent versions have no reason to delete older versions from their systems other than for general housekeeping reasons".

Dangerous advise to be dispensing. Old versions of Java absolutely should be removed and the computer rebooted before a new version is installed. Even though applets may use the new version, the presence of old JREs leaves the computer vulnerable to the exploits out there that target older versions (Vundo, for example).