OpenWorld: Oracle Outlines Roadmap for Java

When Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, it also acquired the Java development platform. On Day 2 of its OpenWorld conference, Oracle (ORCL) announced JavaFX 2.0 and its plans to move Java forward and continue investment in mobile platforms such as Java ME and Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) Mobile.

Java's Roadmap

During the JavaOne 2011 strategy keynote, Oracle senior vice president Hasan Rizvi outlined plans for the future of the Java platform and showcased product demonstrations illustrating the latest Java technology innovations. Oracle said Java is run on 97 percent of enterprise desktops and that 80 percent of mobile developers target the Java platform.

Pronouncing that they would keep Java vibrant and moving forward through ongoing support for open standards, there were an array of partner-related announcements. Twitter, the OpenJDK Community, the Java Community Process (JCP), IBM, Intel and Red Hat, ARM, GetJar and Harris IT Systems also appeared on stage to demonstrate their ongoing support for Java technology. The "Java Life (Code Hard)" rap music video played at the JavaOne Keynote Tuesday.

JavaFX 2.0

Oracle announced the availability of JavaFX 2.0, an advanced Java user interface (UI) platform for enterprise business applications and the next step in the evolution of Java as a premier rich client platform. They also stated it was their intention to submit a proposal to open source the JavaFX platform as a new project within the OpenJDK Community. The new version introduces FXML, a scriptable XML-based markup language for defining user interfaces. JavaFX 2.0 allows the use of popular scripting languages that are supported on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), including Groovy, JRuby and Scala. Oracle references a number of testimonials from customers using JavaFX.

Java SE 8 Roadmap

Oracle also announced its plans for advancing the Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE) with a roadmap for Mac OS X releases and an update on Java SE 8. The OpenJDK Community hosts the development of Java SE 7 on Mac OS X and JDK 8, the prototype reference implementation of Java SE 8. Proposed features for JDK 8 include lambda expressions (closures), a Java-native module system, Nashorn - a new JavaScript engine optimized for the JVM, a next generation Java Client in the form of JavaFX 3.0, support for multi-touch, and convergence of HotSpot/JRockit JVM. Oracle said that JDK 7 downloads have increased by 91 percent year over year and referenced a recent release of Java SE 7 for Embedded on ARM and x86 platforms.

Java Mobile Outlook

In the mobile space, Oracle outlined plans for the evolution of Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME) through the submission of new Java Specification Requests (JSRs) to the Java Community Process. As a first step in the submission they will offer an update to the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) virtual machine and library specifications to better align with JDK 7. Oracle expects the Java Card 3.0.4 platform will increase adoption in the areas of NFC (Near Field Communication) mobile payments and machine to machine secure devices.

Oracle also previewed the next generation Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) Mobile, an extension of the Oracle Application Development Framework. Oracle ADF is an end-to-end Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) framework that simplifies application development by providing out of the box infrastructure services and a visual and declarative development experience.