Java 2SE technology readily harnesses the power of the network because it is both a programming language and a selection of specialized platforms.

As such, it standardizes the development and deployment of the kind of secure, portable, reliable, and scalable applications required by the networked economy.

Because the Internet and World Wide Web play a major role in new business development, consistent and widely supported standards are critical to growth and success.

The Java programming language lets you write powerful, enterprise-worthy programs that run in the browser, from the desktop, on a server, or on a consumer device. Java programs are run on -- interpreted by -- another program called the Java Virtual Machine (Java VM).

Rather than running directly on the native operating system, the program is interpreted by the Java VM for the native operating system. This means that any computer system with the Java VM installed can run a Java program regardless of the computer system on which the application was originally developed.

The Java platform is a software-only platform that runs on top of other hardware-based platforms. Because hardware-based platforms vary in their storage, memory, network connection, and computing power capabilities, specialized Java platforms are available to address applications development for and deployment to those different environments.

Java technology has grown to include the portfolio of specialized platforms listed below. Each platform is based on a Java VM that has been ported to the target hardware environment. This means, for example, in the case of Desktop Java, desktop applications written in the Java programming language can run on any Java VM-enabled desktop without modification.

Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE), provides an environment for Core Java and Desktop Java applications development, and is the basis for Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and Java Web Services technologies. It has the compiler, tools, runtimes, and Java APIs that let you write, test, deploy, and run applets and applications.

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

· Many minor bugs were fixed.
· The Olson time zone data was updated to version 2009l.