Potential Games

Up until now, all development has been on Java 5. I am now testing Java 6 (per issue#24). Backward compatibility has been a strong feature of Java updates, so I am not anticipating much hassle. There are even some new Java features that will be useful, such as splash screen support (plus new concurrency enhancements — yeah, I get more excited about the core features).

I’m hoping they’ve really polished Java Web Start. Java has always been developed by developers for developers. Sun also does a decent job promoting Java for corporate environments (maybe because they’re more used to selling hardware). Case in point, the JavaOne conference showcases a strange hybrid culture of corporate salespeople and geeks (I’m on the long-haired end of that stick).

Unfortunately, the Java marketing war hammer, for all its force, is still a blunt instrument that tends to miss the agile end-user target. Sun has begun to improve: java.com appears to be designed by publishers/artists rather than programmers. (In contrast, java.sun.com remains one of the most hideously difficult sites to navigate.) Hopefully, Sun will continue to improve the end-user’s desktop Java experience. Only then will Java finally be fully empowered to break the prevalent platform-dependent user application affliction.