As a mobile application platform, Linux is subject to the same balkanization problem that JavaFX is intended to address. And Linux is far more vulnerable than Java, because it runs native apps.

Android addresses balkanization in the same way as JavaFX - by having a single implementation of a Java platform ((albeit non-standard). The apps never see Linux.

Too bad, Sun. Google stole your ideas, and now you've probably missed the train.

But hardly surprising, as Sun have been consistently cack-handed and incompetent in their attempts to adapt Java to the consumer market.

They have a good shot on making this technology successful if they make sure it works well. Java has the most developers out there and that alone will make a lot of people to try out the technology.

One of the most important feature I see is the drag your applet to the desktop feature, allowing you to bypass the browser...

Sun only need to make sure the technology works well...