Brief Hands-On Report--Apple Released Java 2 Platform Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 Release 3

which improves functionality of J2SE 5.0 on Mac OS X v 10.4 Tiger 10.4.2 and later. It is available via the Software Update application or as a standalone file from this Apple Web page. From Apple Article #302412,

Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 Release 3 allows applications and applets developed for the J2SE 5.0 platform to run on Mac OS X v 10.4.2 and later.

This update does not change the default version of Java on your Mac from Java 1.4.2 to J2SE 5.0, though Java applications that require J2SE 5.0 may specifically request it. You can change the preferred Java version for applications and applets by using the new Java Preferences utility. This utility is installed by the J2SE 5.0 update at /Applications/Utilities/Java/J2SE 5.0/.

We downloaded and installed the latest edition of Java 2 with no problems on several Power Mac G5s and G4 Cubes, iMac G5s, PowerBook G4s and a Mac mini. We have not enabled Java 2 SE 5.0R3 as our preferred Java version as yet. [Dana Baggett & Bill Fox]