Client-Side Java Gets A Boost - Page 2

Fortunately, Russell said Sun's effort to rewrite plug-in support for Update N is progressing rapidly. He said the first build of the browser plug-ins for testing passed more compliance tests than even the old Java plug-in architecture -- and Update N hasn't even gotten to beta yet.

For one thing, Russell said Update N's scripting support and integration of Java and JavaScript in browsers is a "vast improvement over the previous implementation." Under the new system, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera will all have the same levels of support and performance, and plug-in behavior will be much more reliable.

He also said the browsers will be able to run bigger, more powerful applets than in the past, thanks to much larger heaps for expanded memory footprints.

Vista support also will be beefed up, Russell said, by allowing signed applets to run in protected mode. For enterprise customers, an application can be set to run in one particular version of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), enabling them to maintain compatibility should an app be certified only an older version of the JRE.

One commonly cited issue in Java SE is that applets sometimes don't display on a Web page or banner at all, because Java has to load from scratch, which often necessitates a notable lag. To address this, Sun is working on an Update N project called Quick Starter that will pre-fetch data to launch Java applets much more swiftly.

Haase also said graphics performance also will get a big boost in Update N by defaulting to the GPU in the computer for 2D rendering. Java has offered the option to have the GPU and either DirectX or OpenGL graphics libraries handle rendering, but this had to be manually switched on. With Update N, it will be on by default.

Sun also plans a major overhaul of the media codecs in Java. Haase described the current codecs as old, out of date, not part of the core platform and not very good quality.

That will all change to offer high-quality audio and video playback in Java with Update N, he said.

Update N will also include improved version detection on the client, Haase said. The release's new Deployment Toolkit determines what versions of the JRE are installed and updates them appropriately. Currently, Java doesn't detect which of its versions is on the client computer very well and isn't very smart about what to install.