You're right, code can be self-signed. Self-signed code be run without a complaint if Apple allows it or it can be treated as suspicious as unsigned code if Apple decides to do so, it all depends on how high the walls are on Apple's garden.

On this point I'm inclined to see the glass as half-empty.

They may have actively courted this market but they've just actively dumped it as Java used a lot here, both to run programs and as an interpreter for other languages. They've announced it's depreciated in 10.7 but they haven't announced any ordered handover to a 3rd party.

If Apple had said that Oracle or some other company were picking up and would have a JVM ready by 10.7 then there wouldn't be half the furore. As it is the timing along with the App Store announcement and the lack of Flash on the new MacBook Airs can be seen as suspicious and the first step down the road of locking down the platform.

Has anyone from Apple or Oracle said that Oracle's going to do a Mac JVM?

Half the Java team have walked, could they even do one by Lion's launch date if Larry told them to do it? And secondly, it's rather difficult to integrate it into Cocoa as well as Apple have done, if Apple haven't handed the source code to Oracle then they'd need to take Apple developers on.

If Larry is even aware of what's happened he's probably himself how many yachts he can get out of distributing a free JVM for Mac after taking costs into account, and the answer is probably less than one.

I'm betting on mandatory code signing for applications outside the Mac App Store, making freeware impossible and shareware only available if the App Store censor allows it by 10.9. All for the customers' own good, you understand (viruses, uncertainty of downloading off the internet, and stuff).

At that point the web browser starts to become less important as newspapers can be accessed by (paid-for) apps.

There's no app store because it's a new platform. This will in all probability change when Symbian becomes mid-range and Meego becomes top-range and both use QT for the GUI.

It's unpolished because it's a new platform yet the nerds still wanted to beta test it in their thousands and the platform was later tidied up for mass consumption. I assume we've forgotten Android 1.0?

Europe gets more in the bundle for the same price: Wii Sports + Wii Sports Resort + Wiimote + Nunchuck + Motionplus. The bad part (for Nintendo)? There are people who might never buy anything else for it during the console's lifetime.

Nearly.

It's more like Front Porch/NebuAd/PerfTech "Edited and Approved" US Government Advice.

Don't worry, fingerprinting's being worked on...

The European Commission is about to announce the compulsory fingerprinting of all visitors to the EU, both visa holders and non-visa holders, along with automated border checks of EU nationals through the analysis of fingerprints and facial scans.

EU to announce fingerprinting for all visitors

The thing is if you fly to Spain from outside the Schengen zone you have to do a similar thing, although your airline forwards the data on your behalf. And so on for the other Schengen countries (if a Schengen country doesn't currently require it then it'll be rolled out soon).

The main difference between the US and EU might be some aspect of data retention, where usually in the EU the data is deleted after one or two years and there are a few more limitations on who can get to see that data, unlike the US.

So effectively the US and the EU are equally screwed in this respect and each new 'advance' in technology on one side of the pond will end up appearing on the other side, sooner or later.