A closer look at Consumer JRE

Chet Haase posted details of the upcoming Consumer JRE on his blog. Consumer JRE targets six areas that seem most pressing for Java on the desktop and its user experience.

• Quick startup — Speeding up both warm and cold application starts
• Java Kernel — Making the JRE modular so it downloads and installs the parts an application actually needs
• Deployment Toolkit — Detecting and installing the JRE
• Installer improvements — Making installation simpler and friendlier
• Faster graphics on Windows — Using hardware acceleration for Java 2D and therefore making Swing faster
• A new default look and feel — Nimbus Look & Feel

The blog has more about what each improvement entails. Consumer JRE should be available as a Java 6 update sometime early next year, though some improvements should arrive in the upcoming Java 6 Update 2.

Sun is trying to make up for its past sins with desktop Java, and it’s doing it on a tight schedule. We’ll see if it pulls it off. All these areas will certainly help Java on the desktop, though Nimbus Look & Feel didn’t particularly impress me.