Normally I confine my forumn entries to answering what questions I can, and the constant availability of every weekly build of JDK 6 means many of the forumn readers here have already tried using Java Web Start 6.0 for some time, but now the GA is available for Java Platform Standard Edition 6 (including Java Web Start 6.0).
Please try it out.
Andy Herrick
The new splash screen is slick - little things like that help sell the technology to the customer/end user.
The new Java Cache Viewer is a major improvement. And, although getting to it is easier than it used to be, I still feel Web Start applications are undervalued by the Cache Viewer appearing under "Temporary Internet Files". They should really receive much greater prominence in the Java Control Panel and appear under the heading "Installed Applications".
As for Java 6 itself, I think it's a major bug that applications cannot be launched 'offline' from an 'online' desktop icon. This is a regression bug that I understand will be fixed in update 1 but that update cannot come soon enough. It's a major flaw.
A minor flaw is that the desktop icon seems to move location when the app. download updates.
Finally, and there are other threads in this forum relating to extensions, but treatment of this library mechanism needs to receive high priority. Most applications are built using libraries of existing code (code reuse is a good thing, remember?). The point is being made that Sun should provide web start versions of all of its extensions - with up to date signatures. Something I and others have also asked for is easy installation of extensions from CD.
I do not mean to sound negative. I'm actually delighted that Java 5 and 6 are addressing the desktop and there have been significant strides made towards improving Web Start but there is still more to do.
I'm sure you're aware of that.
Thank you,
-Paul
Hey,
Do you know when jre 1.6+ will be available at http://java.sun.com/products/autodl? I own a corporate desktop application that has been modified to work with 1.6 (thanks god for the improvements to swing painting!), but after updating the jnlp to reference the 1.6 jre version I get a message saying that version is not availabe.
Releasing these kind of info transparently and in advance would greatly help people to plan their work.
Thanks
Jes鷖