Sun Releases JavaFX 185
ink writes "Sun released JavaFX 1.0 today, in a bid to take on Adobe's Flash and Microsoft's Silverlight technologies. It is Sun's first Java release to include standardized, cross-platform audio and video playback code (in the form of On2 licensed codecs). The lack of a Linux or Solaris release is a notable absence. The development kit currently consists of the base run-time, a NetBeans/Eclipse plug-in and a set of artifact exporters for Adobe CS 3&4." An anonymous reader adds a link to several tutorials accompanying the new release.
Probably Also Contending with OpenLaszlo (Score:5, Informative)
Well, I will throw out there a heads up to folks about OpenLaszlo [openlaszlo.org] which is the "run-anywhere, no-lock-in rich Internet platform. Period."
Unfortunately it still has a massive adoption curve ahead of it so maybe there's no reason to list it as a contender. While there are neat demos [openlaszlo.org], a few companies have employed it: Wal-Mart, Pandora even MSN's music service.
*sigh* I wonder if this means Sun is going to pull out of Orbit [slashdot.org] and come up with some J2ME version of JavaFX?
Like always, I welcome the competition, diversity and options this brings while I cringe at the thought of yet another schism in the open source community.
Re:sorry (Score:5, Informative)
On2 [wikipedia.org] is the company that provides the video/audio codecs for video in the Flash plugin. (i.e. The technology used by sites like Youtube.) The inclusion of these codecs in JavaFX means that JavaFX will be able to play movies intended for a Flash player.
In other words, JavaFX is a scripting language for graphics. Similar in principle to Flash. The download gives developers the necessary libraries and viewers to develop JavaFX code. (Including plugins for your favorite IDE.) Not sure what the Adobe CS stuff is about.
Re:Probably Also Contending with OpenLaszlo (Score:4, Informative)
Well, I will throw out there a heads up to folks about OpenLaszlo [openlaszlo.org] which is the "run-anywhere, no-lock-in rich Internet platform. Period."
That's not entirely true. OpenLaszlo relies on Flash to display video, and Flash is not a no-lock-in platform. You cannot redistribute Flash, or use it in a whole host of applications without licensing it from Adobe.
Re:Existing plugin (Score:5, Informative)
It is. This is really a set of libraries on top of the existing Java runtime that support the JavaFX scripting framework.
I'm sure they will once the technology has been shaken out a bit. Sun tends to be cautious about making changes to the core APIs.
Linux support is 'coming' (Score:4, Informative)
From the link:
"We are going to support Linux and Solaris. We love both operating systems....we are actively working on it right now. We have it in our continuous build system."
and
"So why didn't we ship for Linux and Solaris in 1.0 along with Mac & Windows?
Simple. It's not ready yet. Certain features are there but other features are broken or not performing well enough. In particular video and graphics hardware acceleration have historically been tricky to implement properly on Linux and Solaris, as users of native apps for those operating systems know all too well. But we are working on it and will ship it."
Re:sorry (Score:2, Informative)
Sun released JavaFX 1.0 today, in a bid to take on Adobe's Flash and Microsoft's Silverlight technologies.
JavaFX, a technology by sun which will let developers write "rich internet applications" using a Java-esq language which has been in development for quite some time now has finally been released, joining rather late to the game. Also it requires it's own plugin which will be a hefty barrier to entry.
It is Sun's first Java release to include standardized, cross-platform audio and video playback code (in the form of On2 licensed codecs).
So, it will include Audio/Video support, and it is using codecs from On2 [on2.com]. I don't think that this means the codecs are free in any sense of the term, just that Sun is paying the cost of licensing these codecs for the developers using JavaFX. Nevertheless, good codec support is always a good thing.
The lack of a Linux or Solaris release is a notable absence.
Kind of deflates the "standardized, cross-platform" claim...
The development kit currently consists of the base run-time, a NetBeans/Eclipse plug-in and a set of artifact exporters for Adobe CS 3&4."
So, the download they offer you includes the software to run the software you write, a plugin for eclipse and netbeans which are the two leading Java development environments, and some plugins for a few Adobe products to move stuff from them into the JavaFX world.
Re:SO confusing.. (Score:2, Informative)
Wow...you can't even be bothered to type "Linux dmg" into Google...how lazy are you?
(In case you really are that lazy, the answer is mount -t hfs -o loop file.dmg /path/to/mount)
JavaFX 1.0 SDK running on Linux (Score:5, Informative)
I was able to get the SDK to run on Linux. Full details here [vivin.net]. Please don't kill my box :)
Re:Probably Also Contending with OpenLaszlo (Score:5, Informative)
JavaFX.com is down... (Score:2, Informative)
...and has been for at least 20-30 minutes. I guess they didn't expect anyone to actually check out the site.
Not really, no. (Score:4, Informative)
Laszlo is a Generator for a few things - which also include Flash, nonetheless. Much like the old Macromedia Flash Generator, the Ming Libraries or the Macromedia Laszlo Rippoff 'Flex'.
JavaFX on the other hand is an all-out leveraging of the Java VM for RIAs, something Laszlo can't offer. It's its own VM (naturally) plus a toolkit for building content and applications. While there are overlaps between the two, JavaFX is clearly aimed at Flash - the biggest advancement being a much more streamlines deployment of the Java VM (I just installed it with a sinlge click of a mouse, supported by some nifty Ajax widget that streamlined the process even more).
And, contrary to Silverlight, Java actually has a chance to dethrone Flash, as it is the most mature cross plattform available, despite Flash being the most widespread plattform in general. I'm really interested in how this will play out. ... And am downloading the free JavaFX IDE as I'm typing this. If it doesn't get in my way building RIAs, I will probably never purchase a Flash IDE licence again.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Probably Also Contending with OpenLaszlo (Score:4, Informative)
Huh? You can't redistribute any application without a license unless it's public domain. That's copyright. GPL is a distribution license.
As far as Adobe's Flash, they have an easy website form to obtain a standard redistribution license:
http://www.adobe.com/products/players/fpsh_distribution1.html [adobe.com]
It's suitable for distributing the player on installation media, for distributing the player on a whole network, or for distributing with other software through a website you manage. It pretty much covers the bases for intended uses of Flash Player for an end-user.
Fail! (Score:3, Informative)
I tried the demo over at javafx.com and I got two security warnings (they use self-signed certificates) and one popup with a EULA. And the demo have some serious usability and display issues.
I love Java and it pays my bills but Sun really have a long way to go to reach the acceptance level of Flash.
Re:Flash and Silverlight the target? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Not really, no. (Score:3, Informative)
The big problem with JavaFX is that, apparently, it requires a full Java VM on the client to work. This is about 15Mb to download. For comparison, Silverlight 2.0 is ~4Mb, and Flash is less than 1Mb. And yes, it is a big deal. Today, for anything other than Flash, you have to assume that the client won't have the plugin/runtime installed by default, so the download has to be as small as possible.
"notable absence" (Score:1, Informative)
The lack of a GNU/Linux release is not a "notable absence" at all, it's an entirely predictable absence. And does anybody actually use Solaris as a desktop OS any more (if so, you have my sympathy)?
Re:Not really, no. (Score:5, Informative)
The download for Java *is* as small as possible. If you go to Sun's download page and select the "Windows Kernel Installation", the installer is 0.20 MB
It then dynamically downloads components from the network as required.
More information about this here [sun.com].
Don't ask me why (I guess it's an experimental feature they're prepping for the Java 7 release) but for the time being you have to access it via Sun's developer site [sun.com] rather than the consumer java.com one. Hmmm.
Re:Probably Also Contending with OpenLaszlo (Score:1, Informative)
We don't need the video tag, there is already <object>