After JavaOne 2008 I started reading up about Sun’s Flex and SilverLight competitor, JavaFX. I have only scratched the surface but the brightest items thus far:

• Java-Friendly development: Using java syntax to build out a JavaFX application is a nice feature. It keeps the environment friendly to java programmers and side-steps some developers thoughts that programming in xml is beneath them.
• Database connectivity: Looking over this example for using JavaFX with a database the database connectivity features are intuitive and commensurate with traditional java-database code. Additionally, it appears as though you can use traditional jdbc protocols, no specific protocol like AMF is needed to transfer data to the presentation layer..
• Deployment: The most impressive feature, especially from a delivery stand-point, is how a user can drag the javaFX application off the web-page and onto the browser and keep the functionality in tact, even when the browser is closed. Love this. I have been trying to figure out a similar workflow with Flex and although I was successful the process still required user-intervention and an installation step. According to the demo (Beyond the Browser) the migration from browser to desktop is seamless as opposed with Flex where some tags require modification to convert AIR-Flex and vice-versa.

All in all javaFX looks like a pretty fantastic tool and it is something to keep an eye on. We will start some initial testing in the lab this quarter and blog our experience.