ILGAZ  Dear super progressed genius

Java is not some tiny shareware which Apple can abuse. It is now a product of Oracle which is second largest software company on planet, after MS.

They either maintain or remove it. It was decided in US court, Sun vs. Microsoft. Look it up. Also check how much MS had to pay to settle it.  
(Version Update 5)

ILGAZ  I bet they use hardcoded /tmp which this update will have problem with. They should keep an eye on Apple Java developer previews, Apple changes things all the time and no serious site/developer can write them up since they are under serious NDA (including rel. notes).  
(Version Update 5)

BLOODCLOT  I'm in the same boat, my G5 2.5 dual ppc was placed on the obsolete list yesterday. Now I have to miss the snow leopard boat, also won't run the latest java update. SOOOO NOT COOL.  
(Version Update 4)

THE CROW  I don't know what you guys are talking about. I just ran this Java update on my Quad G5 2.5 GHz PPC PowerMac, and it took it fine.

I think it's silly to complain about old architectures losing support. Sure, it's a bummer, but there's nothing wrong with Leopard. That's where my Quad will stay, and it will continue to function just fine for years. Does it bother me that I can't update my Quad with Snow Leopard? Yes. Do I wish Apple had built Snow Leopard to support my Quad? No. Snow Leopard wouldn't be a lean mean machine if it contained all that legacy code. Eventually I'll bite the bullet and buy a new Intel Mac Pro - but for now, everything still runs perfectly fine. I have no complaints, and I thank Apple for creating such a solid computer and OS that it has run without issues for almost 5 years, and shows no signs of stopping.  
(Version Update 5)

ZUDO  The only PM G5 that went Vintage is the first model, discontinued 5 years ago, not 3. Since it still works fine you are not forced to buy a new(er) mac until you're ready.  
(Version Update 5)

ILGAZ  I don't know about your specifics but if you rely on Java that much, you can install/use Yellow Dog Linux which IBM Java 6 for PPC can be installed.

Of course, OS X upgrade to Leopard makes way more sense for 99% of situations.  
(Version Update 6)

CROW  Everything becomes obsolete - and computers age faster than anything else. You really can't expect Apple to support legacy architectures after such a significant change, and not to stay competitive. We push Apple to adopt the latest and greatest; people complain if they don't put the most recent Intel chips in their current lineup. I'd like to say that the Intel Macs will ensure compatibility for a much longer run - but who knows? You could buy a new Mac today and in three years there could be a game-changing breakthrough in quantum computing from IBM, and we'll change architectures again. Unlikely - but there's just no guarantees.

I can honestly say that my Macs have all had a much longer lifespan than any PC my friends have had. I finally broke down and bought a new Mac Pro to replace my G5. Did I need to? No - actually, I didn't. It still works great after 5 years, and will go on chugging away for years to come. But I started craving the new 64-bit programs being released, and I couldn't help myself. Nothing is forcing you to buy a new Mac. You can still run all of your existing apps, and be just as productive as you were 3 years ago. Similarly, my old car CD player won't play MP3 CDs. But it will still play the audio CDs just fine. Plug your ears, close your eyes, and don't pay attention to the new apps being made for new machines - and you'll be happy. Your Mac still works the same today as it has for years. But don't complain that new software won't run on your old computer...that's just silly. If you want to run the latest and greatest, buy a new machine.  
(Version Update 6)

PHILIP GONIA  Worked out how to get Java running within Safari.

In Java Preferences I selected Run Applets within Java Browser.

Java however is still broken within FireFox.

Also found this info about Java update 3.

[ http://mactip.blogspot.com/2007/11/safari-crash-firefox-crash-applet-crash.html ]

Found this very interesting. Looks as though Java 6 on MAC OS X is broken. Oops!

[http://lists.apple.com/archives/java-dev/2007/Oct/msg00367.html]

What is described here is the same as what I am seeing but after installing on a new installation of MAC OS X "Leopard" (10.5.7)

Java 5 is all that will run!  
(Version Update 3)

MACFOOL  Those having problems subsequent to these updates should Safe Boot and run Repair Permissions in Disk Utility.  
(Version Update 4)

LEPPE  This is what you need to run Java in other browsers then Safari:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16262/java-embedding-plugin

Greets

Leppe

Here is some info from the project site:

The Java Embedding Plugin is a utility that allows other web browsers than Apple's Safari to use the most recent versions of Java on Mac OS X. When used together with an updated version of Mozilla's MRJ Plugin Carbon (included in this distribution), the Java Embedding Plugin's functionality is currently available to recent versions of Firefox, Seamonkey and Camino. But in principle any web browser could use one of the Java Embedding Plugin's two APIs to add support for Java 1.4.2, J2SE 5.0 and (where available) Java SE 6.  
(Version Update 4)