Two days until official launch (assuming Sun doesn't delay, again). No Linux support, no OSX support, Windows only. Though Sun says Linux is soon to follow.
Personally, I think JavaFX will fail. I think not coming out of the gate with at least Linux support is a big red flag. I think shutting the community out of JavaFX's roadmap is a huge mistake. I think Flex and Silverlight already have such a strong footprint on the RIA market that trying to revive applets via JavaFX won't work. I think the "declarative markup" of the JavaFX langauge was architecturally a big mistake. Using XML or utilizing the Groovy language would have been a much better approach.
I think JavaFX solves a problem that hardly anybody has any more, because most people/companies have moved away from client-side Java. To me it's not clear how JavaFX will lure developers away from Flex/Flash/AJAX/Silverlight.
For Java developers, it's yet another syntax to learn; I'm not sure having an XML syntax instead would be much better. As regards new features, bindings are nice, but hardly earth-shattering.
Non-Java developers can't really use JavaFX without a good understanding of Swing, so it's not something a web developer can pick up quickly without having to learn up a good deal of Java as well.
After installing the SDK I notice that apparently the JavaFX Script syntax changed again some time during the last few months (e.g., attribute doesn't exist any longer). While there's a complete language reference available, I'm in need of an upgrade guide that explains what's changed, and which constructs have been replaced by which other ones. Has anybody seen such a thing?
Originally posted by Ulf Dittmer: After installing the SDK I notice that apparently the JavaFX Script syntax changed again some time during the last few months (e.g., attribute doesn't exist any longer). While there's a complete language reference available, I'm in need of an upgrade guide that explains what's changed, and which constructs have been replaced by which other ones. Has anybody seen such a thing?
Non-Java developers can't really use JavaFX without a good understanding of Swing, so it's not something a web developer can pick up quickly without having to learn up a good deal of Java as well.
As far as I know, Linux only has about 5% market share in this area. Therefore, delaying support for it seems to be a pragmatic approach instead of postponing the release. Also, it includes JavaFX Production Suite - a set of tools that enable designers to exchange visual assets with developers to develop rich Internet applications. [ December 07, 2008: Message edited by: Prateek Parekh ]
As far as I know, Linux only has about 5% market share in this area. Therefore, delaying support for it seems to be a pragmatic approach instead of postponing the release. Also, it includes JavaFX Production Suite - a set of tools that enable designers to exchange visual assets with developers to develop rich Internet applications.
[ December 07, 2008: Message edited by: Prateek Parekh ]
I'd be willing to bet the developer market share for linux is higher and in my opinion that is more important for JavaFX adoption than consumer market share. If developers can't create content then consumer market share is moot.
Aum Tao
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I've met these guys and they are very committed to providing support for Linux and OpenSolaris. And, being a Linux desktop user, I hope it wouldn't take a lot of time.
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