There’s still movement in desktop Java

I’ll freely admit I mostly follow Java desktop development from the sidelines. I was surprised by how hard Sun is pushing on both tools and improvements to Swing. It’s also encouraging to hear about open-source projects supporting desktop development.

A year or a year and a half ago, I might have called desktop Java a dead technology. I wouldn’t today. I see several things that have helped bring it back.

• Sun began taking Swing and desktop Java seriously. You can see that in the changes prepared for JDK 5 and 6, and in what’s planned for 7. For end users, an application no longer looks so different from a native one. For developers, long-neglected bugs have started getting fixed.
• SWT. Sun realized SWT was real competition and that it would be a bad idea to let Swing die and the number-one rival’s technology win. Competition between SWT and Swing pushed both forward, benefiting users and developers.
• Development tools. The Matisse GUI designer in NetBeans 5.0 got things moving. It gave Java a competitive desktop application development tool. Other IDE makers then had to raise their game.
• Open-source Java. If it didn’t matter for Windows, the message for Linux was clear. Here’s an open-source technology with a compatible license you can use to build desktop applications. From what the community said, licensing was a major problem on Linux, and Mono had begun to threaten Java’s position on the desktop.

To live up to the title and avoid rehashing old facts, here are three links that show what people are doing with desktop Java.

• Roumen put together a Demo of next version of Matisse. I liked its demonstration of Beans Binding (JSR-295) and Swing Application Framework (JSR-296). A note to Roumen. I really don’t understand why Mr. Gosling wasn’t driving a souped-up car of East German origin.
• Introducing MigLayout. The One Layout Manager to Rule Them All!? — One layout manager for Swing and SWT. It looks as though GroupLayout has found some capable competition in the open-source MigLayout.
• Desktop Java and Desktop Linux: A Match Made in Heaven? — The fight for the Linux desktop. Java is back in the running, we hope.