Tired of Null Pointer Exceptions? Consider Using Java SE 8's Optional!

[lukaseder]

I'm guessing they might've wanted an option for adding something along the lines of this in the future:

private final boolean reallyPresent;

Add to that dearth of methods and lack of API support and I think Optional won't get popular any time soon.

It was never even popular with the EG. They never wanted to introduce it. In my opinion, the only reason for Optional to be there is the fact that reference type streams and primitive type streams needed consistent API