JavaFX preview SDK available

Sun released a preview SDK for JavaFX which gives developers a first look at the RIA play for Sun. Coté has a couple of videos up wth Nandini Ramani, the Director of Engineering for JavaFX and we did a Podcast with Joshua Marinacci as part of RIA Weekly that should be out this week. There are a number of cool things with the tooling (and how they plug into CS3) that give the impression Sun is really focused on creating some great experiences with JavaFX.

One of the most compelling features of JavaFX is the ability to seamlessly move between the browser and the desktop. Being able to drag JavaFX content from the browser and turn it into a desktop application is pretty compelling for users who want that desktop persistence. It's also going to be partially open-sourced under the GPL which provides the open source community with a more open RIA technology than they have today.

I really liked Tim Anderson's analysis on the topic. The install experience worries me from a user perspective, but being able to plug into the entire Java ecosystem is a plus. I'm looking forward to kicking the tires of the preview SDK but in general the impression I get is that this is a good step for Sun. The more RIAs we have the better and getting Sun into the RIA game brings a lot more developer eyeballs.