Java 6 Update 10
This Beta release of Java has had the typical Sun treatment of not being promoted hard enough. Maybe I’m being unfair and maybe they are saving the hype for JavaOne - we’ll see.
Anyway one of the main feature of the snappyly names Java 6 update 10 (nee Java 6 update n) is that it has a modular basis. The kernel - all you need to run most things is 200K (flash player is 1.6M, Silverlight 1M, .NET Runtime 23M). It will then dynamically fetch what it needs to run each application or applet and cache that in case anything else needs it.
This isn’t the end of the story however there is now good support for 3D acceleration of 2D and 3D graphics and some great configuration parameters for Applets (like turning the system tray icon off).
As always a Java Applet can be run as a Java application and a webstart application.
As a demo of this here is Quake 2 running as an applet (you’ll need Java 6 update 10+ for the applet version):
Yes, multiple player works you can run a Quake server within the applets and then anyone else running the applet on your network can join. This is a great demo of low latency high response network requirements being delivered in a browser and standalone environment.
Other examples showing JavaScript interacting with a Java applet is the NASA World Wind demos
Most of this stuff I think will run with good old Java 5 but who would know nobody from Sun seems to be promoting it hard enough.