Get Early Access to the Next Java SE 6 Update Download Java SE 6 Update N, formerly known as the Consumer JRE, and provide feedback on these exciting features: Direct3D, Java Quick Starter, Nimbus, and Deployment Toolkit. Get the RSS feed.
Subscribe our live link feed for lastest news & information: Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Java SE 6 Update N Early Access
You will find in here an overview of the features covered by Java SE 6 Update N, links to provide feedback and report issues, as well as testing instructions to help you evaluate the new features.
Java SE 6 Update N (formerly know as the "Consumer JRE" project) is an update release that introduces new features and enhancements aimed at providing an optimized consumer end user experience. Java SE 6 Update N focuses on the following areas:
Enhanced JRE installation experience
The Deployment Toolkit takes the guess work out of determining what versions of the JRE end users have installed on their PC. It supplies Java based web applet/application deployers with a simple interface to accomplish Java detection and installation.
The Kernel installation mode (not available yet in this build) lets first time Java users run applets and Web Start applications without waiting for the whole JRE download. While the default Kernel installation will work with existing Java applets, application developers have the ability to select libraries that should be installed with the kernel, before the rest of the JRE is installed on the end user's system.
For current users of Java SE, the JRE update mechanism has also been improved, using a patch-in-place mechanism that translates in a faster and more reliable update process (the patch in place mechanism will take effect for end users who upgrade from this update release or later to a new update release). As an added benefit, follow-on update releases will no longer be listed as separate items in the Windows "Add or Remove Programs" dialog.
Improved performance and look & feel
The Quick Starter feature will prefetch portions of the JRE into memory, substantially decreasing the average JRE cold start-up time (the time that it takes to launch a Java application for the first time after a fresh reboot of a PC).
Hardware acceleration support: Java SE 6 Update N introduces a fully hardware accelerated graphics pipeline based on the Microsoft Direct3D 9 API, translating into improved rendering of Swing applications which rely on translucency, gradients, arbitrary transformations, and other more advanced 2D operations.
A new cross-platform Swing look & feel, code name Nimbus, provides a nice update over 'Metal' and 'Ocean'.
Kernel installation mode The Kernel installation mode will be available at a later date. Stay tuned or subscribe our live link feed for lastest news & information: Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.Java SE 6 Update N Early Access
We are excited to introduce these long needed changes to the JRE, and hope that you will be able to evaluate Java SE 6 Update N and provide feedback to us.
Note The following articles and presentations provide additional details about the Java SE 6 Update N features:
We recommend you follow the testing instructions and guidelines in this section if you are not familiar with any of the new features in Java SE 6 Update N.
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Java SE 6 Update N Early Access 