May 6, 2009: I hate java. Currently there really is no such thing as a 64bit firefox java plugin. It is also rare to find a 64bit javaws.

It appears that Red Hat's Sun RPMs for java can do more than Red Hat's IBM RPMs for java. Perhaps the old reasons for using the IBM java instead of the Sun java are gone.

	Red Hat's IBM				Red Hat's Sun				Sun's Sun				Red Hat's OpenJDK
	32/32	64/32	64/64		32/32	64/32	64/64		32/32	64/32	64/64		32/32	64/32	64/64
java in PATH	yes	yes	yes		yes	yes	yes		yes	yes	yes		yes	yes	yes
javaws in PATH	NO	NO	NO		NO	NO	NO		yes	NO	yes		NO	NO	NO
javaws OPS	yes	yes	NO		yes	yes	yes		yes	yes	yes		NO	NO	NO
firefox OPS	yes	yes	NO		yes	yes	yes		NO	NO	yes		NO	NO	NO
firefox plugin	yes	yes	NO		yes	yes	NO		NO	NO	NO		NO	NO	NO
eclipse	yes	NO	yes		yes	NO	yes		yes	NO	yes		yes	NO	yes

Red Hat's IBM

java version "1.6.0"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build pxi3260sr4-20090219_01(SR4))
IBM J9 VM (build 2.4, J2RE 1.6.0 IBM J9 2.4 Linux x86-32 jvmxi3260-20090215_29883 (JIT enabled, AOT enabled)
J9VM - 20090215_029883_lHdSMr
JIT - r9_20090213_2028
GC - 20090213_AA)
JCL - 20090218_01

Red Hat's Sun

java version "1.6.0_13"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_13-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 11.3-b02, mixed mode, sharing)

Sun's Sun

java version "1.6.0_13"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_13-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 11.3-b02, mixed mode, sharing)

Red Hat's OpenJDK

java version "1.6.0"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0-b09)
OpenJDK Client VM (build 1.6.0-b09, mixed mode)