For those that use HP-UX, HP updated their JDK to Java 6.0 level. HP Java UNIX site shows : JDK, JRE, and runtime plug-in for 6.0.00 (Java™ SE 6) (November, 2007) NEW! JDK, JRE, and runtime plug-in for 5.0.11 (November, 2007) NEW!
These are stunning images from a Java raytracer that just looks great, I found this via the excellent JavaPosse podcast archive. SunFlow: Gallery SunFlow: Features
An old article from 2004, but another look at the Java 5.0 language features and comments about them. TheServerSide.com: JDK 5 in Practice by Cedric Beust
Bruce Eckel writes about Java possibly being a dead end? Java: Evolutionary Dead End I don't agree, but he makes some interesting observations about the recent complexity of Java since the changes made at 5.0. His comment : If Java is to be saved at all, it needs to become like C; a workhorse that you can rely upon. In fact, any future changes to the language need to be things that simplify and clarify the language and its use (say, fixing the classpath problem), and flesh out (for example) incomplete libraries that have languished (like JMF). It would be great to simplify, and flesh out the libraries but I don't believe Java is in any danger of dying. Another article : On Closures mentions that generics were a disaster as it made Java much harder to learn.