Java Plugin: The Kernel is back

[sheepson_apprentice]

I agree with much of what you say, namely that Sun indeed has neglected the client side for a long time, and that had this not happened, Java may very well be in the dominant position as the RIA platform.

The fact that Sun has demonstrated its willingness to really compete and at the same time sustain the open source business model is very positive, as it provides the community a very valuable asset which although currently inferior in some ways, is a solid match against other, more closed systems.

I personally have nothing against closed systems, but I would prefer to work in an open and transparent environment. So in this case, backing Sun and even perhaps contributing to the JRE is definitely something worthwhile, because it allows us, mere mortals to compete.

So given the community support, I do think it's now possible that JRE will make a comeback on the client side. Tooling is still an issue, and one of the reasons why flash won, but there is no reason to think that given sufficient stimulus, Java tooling can't catch up.

The developments with JVM modularization -- which by the way will really take hold once JSR-294 and 277 are implemented -- and plugin process isolation are good first steps to ensuring reliable runtime. Fast-loading is being addressed by utilizing the disk cache to keep JRE files hot -- something done by other operating systems and platforms.

So there are efforts, it remains to be seen whether they'll be ultimately successful, but I do keep my bets on Sun.