Read the article. The news (for people who weren't in the Lion beta program) is that if you open up a Terminal prompt and type 'java', it will automatically install Java for you.
So, it's not really deprecated anymore. In fact, Java was updated a few times during the beta process.
They never called it "deprecated" — they said it was an optional install in 10.7 and would no longer receive the same level of support. They gave Rosetta the same treatment in 10.6. It's gone now. All signs point to this being a grace period for Java devs to figure something else out.
It's always best to qualify your statements with "... that I'm aware of." ;)
Straight from the horse's mouth:
As of the release of Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 3, the Java runtime ported by Apple and that ships with Mac OS X is deprecated. Developers should not rely on the Apple-supplied Java runtime being present in future versions of Mac OS X.
The Java runtime shipping in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, will continue to be supported and maintained through the standard support cycles of those products.
I see it as fairly unnecessary to qualify things that way, because it's implied in any statement of fact that we're speaking according to our knowledge. I'd never write "according to your knowledge."
At any rate, this is still not a reversal of any stance. Apple never said it would not ship a Java runtime for Lion (and iirc it has been this way in Lion for a long time), and it still isn't recommended that developers depend on this.
I was just responding to your erroneous correction that Apple never said it was "deprecated", when in fact they explicitly said so. :)
Even our Apple rep said it was deprecated and he sure as heck doesn't read Developer notes, so I'd have to assume he got the news through some other chain at Apple.
Perhaps other orgs were protesting as loudly as our org was.
So, it's not really deprecated anymore. In fact, Java was updated a few times during the beta process.