Java FX: Sun Wants a Piece
"The demand continues to grow for secure, interactive content, applications, and services that run on a variety of clients. To simplify and speed the creation and deployment of high-impact content for a wide range of devices, Sun is introducing JavaFX, a new family of products based on Java technology designed to enable consistent user experiences, from desktop to mobile device to set-top box to Blu-ray Disc."
Sounds like a direct competitor to Silverlight and Flash... but didn't Sun already try something like this and fail? Well... interesting news is that it's scripting language based and completely GPL. So, you have Silverlight which is closed source, Flash which is partially open (you can license the player code), and JavaFX which is completely open. Something for everyone. Looks like JavaFX is going for ultra reach though with support of Blu-ray and set-top boxes. Doesn't look like they are really targetting designers and experience though, just the reach portion. My guess, it won't clash with Silverlight or Flash any time in the near future. It will be used for those horribly ugly set top box interfaces brought to you by your local cable provider.
In any case, with the DLR for Silverlight, Actionscript for Flash, and now JavaFX Script for JavaFX it looks like scripting languages are making a comeback.