Open standards like the world wide web and html really are the antithesis of these closed proprietry guys - their whole business model is based around locking their clients into their platform, excluding anyone else from getting a look-in and then leveraging this position of dominance to extort money.

"fantastic UIs in Java"

Java UIs (Swing or AWT) are probably the most-est ugliest thing in the IT industry ... JavaFX is indeed only butt ugly.

JavaFX must stand for Fashion eXpelled.

You gotta distinguish between the Java Language and the Java Virtual Machine.

Google Wave, an incredibly impressive interface, is programmed completely in Java by Google.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ

It also uses common Java toolsets available, but it is not the JVM.

Google is backing the Java language (or at least a pretty big subset) big time with GWT and Android. But Googles moves don't back the JVM or Sun's libraries.

Take what Larry is saying and what his posturing means...

Oracle/Sun is looking where they have an advantage and how to exploit their advantage.

People don't really care if the underlying tools are open or not. Only that they work and that they are 'free' to use and develop with.

An example, the JVM. Sun and IBM offer JVMs but they are closed. Meaning they control their JVM. You are welcome to build your own and there are open sourced versions of the JVM. Yet the majority of java users are on either Sun or IBM's JVM. The point is that the price point (free) and level of support makes it viable.

If JavaFX works, easy to implement and its 'free', then you will have adopters. If it reaches a critical mass, then it will be viable. Having Sun and Oracle stand behind JavaFX could offer enough support and credibility to make it viable.

Consider this the first step in bringing Oracle in to the spotlight and in a better position to compete against IBM. If the other stories are true, then Oracle is getting ready to relaunch the 'network is the computer' pitch.

Today's main competitors are IBM, Oracle/Sun with Cisco being a dark horse in this race.

I would remove Cisco and add Microsoft. If you're going to have Cisco, then you have to have HP... Neither HP nor Cisco add anything to the software discussion.

I think the most interesting quotes were:

"We'd like to see accelerated development based on this exciting new platform Java with FX...," he continued.

"Going to JavaFX... we encourage the OpenOffice group to quickly build their version of a spread sheet or a word app using JavaFX".

a whole Java environment for netbooks and devices... "I don't see why some of those devices can't come from Sun," Ellison said.

With the news that Sun is releasing a Java store - it seems that Ellison is looking to position Sun in a way which could deliver more products directly to consumers, bypassing the nay-sayers in the computing industry media.

Building products based upon Open Source projects bas been very successful, so far for other companies as well as Sun (Cisco Linksys Routers, Apple MacOSX iPhone & Mac, Sun storage appliances, Google products, etc.)

You don't anyway. You pick one of the excellent libraries (including Google's) and learn that, you'd have to learn JavaFX anyway and it's a very small market (don't know but bet there are at least 25 XML config files). There are also a TON of Java server tools that use AJAX and keep Java server-side.

Oracle had a really good lightweight forms tool that used a small Java applet talking to the DOM (I think it's beta name was Cherokee) and binned it because their brain-dead Oracle Apps division didn't want it. Oracle are actually their own biggest customer and if Apps don't want something the rest of us never get it.

So expect to see JavaFX appearing inside the already nasty Oracle Apps suite real soon now. Can't wait.

I love the smell of burning bridges.

Prey for you ?

You mean prey on you, or was that meant to be Oracle ?

Really, Dear Reg, surely not another typo for the likes of we web minions to pinion, I mean opine ?