In my opinion one of the original goals of Java was to consolidate Sun''s position in the server market. Servers are where Sun has made all their money in the past and that is why Java has never been well polished in the desktop arena. Sure its had some support like "swing" but as a desktop programmer and user of Java desktop apps it just doesn''t run for long enough before consuming all memory resources. In the past I thought that it was my programming and others that simply didn''t code well enough to avoid memory leeks but that is not the case. I now use Excelsior JET to compile all my apps to binary which includes JET''s own VM and memory management. Now I have no problems with performance or memory. Clearly Sun could do a lot to match this sort of performance. I welcome any move by Sun to do this and whilst there are many promises in the new Tiger 1.5 VM, I''m afraid that the only reason Sun is doing this is to help promote their new JDesktop platform. What happens if JDesktop doesn''t take off? How much time and money will Sun spend on this before succeeding or giving up? Personally I will continue to support those vendors who have made Java desktop apps. a reality for today - keep up the good work Excelsior!

Sun has been a proponent of developing desktop apps in Java, including a number of open source Java apps in the Java Desktop System and developing new ones for it as well (Java System Updater), and this appears to be a step towards making that goal a bit easier.

Those willing to step back and look at all facets (JDIC, Java Desktop System, Looking Glass previews, etc, and hopefully others) will see that Sun is getting more serious about making Java a platform for desktop developers.

Look maybe at "Class Data Sharing" here: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/relnotes/features.html#vm_classdatas...

[from that link:]

"a new feature in J2SE 1.5 intended to reduce the startup time for Java programming language applications, in particular smaller applications, as well as reduce footprint."

Java's memory footprint is currently too large to allow numerous java programs of a moderate complexity (and size) to be running simultaneously on the desktop. Until Sun gets VM sharing going, we will not see Java attain a strong desktop presence. And, in the meantime, Microsoft will be cleaning Java's clock with .NET.

I work in Java and would love to see Sun devote the effort required to make Java *truly* desktop ready. However, I fear that that is not a priority for Sun, and instead we'll see .NET/C# rule the desktop. Hope Sun proves me wrong.