In response to an email voicing concerns from a developer at Portico Systems, Steve Jobs commented on the news that Java will be deprecated on Mac OSX

Sun (now Oracle) supplies Java for all other platforms. They have their own release schedules, which are almost always different than ours, so the Java we ship is always a version behind. This may not be the best way to do it.

It's clear that it's all down to Oracle from here, and the sooner they send a clear message to the community about their support, the better. On the plus side, Jobs makes a very good point that Java shouldn't need to lag behind. The cleanest way for Java on the Mac to work is to have it distributed just like the Windows versions.