The burning question at JavaOne 2008 on lots of developers and businesses mind was how Sun was ever going to monetize all the cool technologies at JavaOne? If Sun goes down, so does the technologies it championed. I got the opportunity to ask the questions on the Java panel for media, to JavaFX lead and others.

Sun revealed the following statistics about Java at JavaOne 2008: 1. 90% of Personal Computers on Internet have Java 2. 700, 000 JDK downloads per month 3. 48 Million JRE downloads per month

I was intrigued by the fact that a new scripting language was designed for JavaFX, a new technology based on the Java platform, designed to enable consistent user experiences on desktop, mobile, TV, and other consumer platforms, where existing languages like Javascript or Groovy could be embraced and extended instead. A new language means a learning curve for a developer to get proficient at and also not be able to leverage the developer base of an existing popular language like Javascript or Gorrvy. I asked the question to the powers that be at Sun.