Sun releases Java 5 aka 1.5.0

SUN HAS RELEASED the highly anticipated, awaited -and talked about- version 5.0 of Java (J2SE means Java2, Standard Edition Sunspeak for "the version of Java you run on desktop computers"). It was also formerly known as 1.5.0, and renamed Java 5.0 for marketing reasons. Confused already?. It's simple: J2EE is server-side java, J2SE is client-side java. Client-server... we've heard of it. :)

The company touts "over 100 features" added and suggested by nearly 160 members of Sun's "Java Community Process" Sun's way of letting third parties have a voice over the future of the platform without losing complete control -and thus avoiding "pollution" or forking of the platforms that might cause it to lose its cross-platform purity. There's an interview with Sun's VP Graham Hamilton on the company's site where he discusses the improvements to the WinXP, Gnome look-and-feel of java applications and the new "Ocean" theme. It's here

Over a year ago, we wrote about Sun's extensive bug-fixing that led to Java2 version 1.4.2. Besides the new features in 1.5.0, my hat's off to the Sun folks because I have noticed a BIG difference in speed, with start-up time of a test applet taking a mere two seconds, plus a very useful "shining sun" logo animation displaying where the applications will load (a lesson obviously learned from the Flash animations' ubiquitous start-up messages).

You can choose to download a 14MB file for the full "Off-line installer" which includes all supported languages and can be burned to a CD or placed on a shared drive for installation over a LAN, or to get an "active installer" that requires a connection to the internet and which has surprisingly shrank from 1.4MB in the previous version to a tiny 221 kbytes. Programmers might want to check this article for a summary of the new features in the programming language.

Despite turf wars between Sun and IBM or other open source poster boys, there are interesting developments in Java-land, like JDIC (Java Desktop Integration Components), a project which provides a set of APIs under the Free Software Foundation's LGPL licence, and allows any cross-platform Java application to use native features found on many desktops, like launching or even embedding the platform's native browser (such as IE or Mozilla), launch the system's default mail application, and register an application (such as a Java app) as the handler for a given file type, among other tricks.

The Java 5 runtime is available in builds for 32-bit Windows, Linux and Solaris x86, and also 64-bit Linux (for AMD64), plus the usual Solaris Sparc version. Also offered are versions bundled with Netbeans v4.0, Sun's latest Integrated Development Environment (IDE). As a Java junkie, I think everyone should check it out, if only not to ever again have to wait a long time for those elusive applets to start.

Not for applets anymore?

Chances are you'll end up running some client-side desktop Java application on your desktop soon. Despite Redmond's dot-net hype and java-fud machine, there is new desktop software written in Java appearing all the time, from graphics software to financial applications, e-mail clients, a commercial office suite that claims to give MS-Office some kicking, or Peer-to-Peer file sharing applications like Phex, Azureus or the recently SIP from american ISP Earthlink. µ