Good old Java is back. But this time it's a little leaner and a whole lot meaner.
At JavaOne today, Sun Microsystems has unveiled details about JavaFX, its rich internet app development software and JavaFX Script, its own, new scripting language. The software lets developers create rich internet apps which rely heavily on graphics, audio and video. Using the Java platform as the base, these apps can be deployed to PCs, phones, game consoles and televisions. JavaFX even allows for some Ajax-like behaviors, such as instant data refreshes in the browser.
It's the old Java mantra of "write once, run anywhere" all over again. It's also very close what Microsoft and Adobe are up to.
Microsoft Silverlight and Adobe Flash with Flex are both designed to display rich content in a variety of hardware environments. Both require dedicated, proprietary players.
It's no surprise that users will also require some dedicated software, namely Java Standard Edition, in order to run apps built with JavaFX Script.
Sun is banking that the wide deployment of their Java platform across millions of devices will lead to the success of JavaFX. They may be right -- enough people have devices and PCs with Java installed to put Sun up into Adobe territory as far as user penetration goes. As an ante, the company is leading the JavaFX line with a mobile development product, JavaFX Mobile, made especially for handhelds.
The JavaFX product family and the release of the alpha code were both announced today. No timetable for the final release has been set, but Sun has promised that JavaFX will be released as an open-source package under the GPL to help move development along.
What do you think, can Sun compete? Or is JavaFX too little too late? Let us know in the comments.
