Java is enjoying a renaissance on the desktop. There are several reasons for this

• The issues that plagued early client/server projects or Java desktop applications have largely been solved. Swing 1.4.2 delivered great performance improvements and good fidelity XP and GTK look and feel classes. Java Web Start now exists as a way to deploy programs to a client PC that run in a local JRE and enjoy the benefits of local caching, lazy update, and execution within Java's security model
  
  
• Java is becoming part of the default installation setup for many PCs vendors, such as Dell, HP, Gateway and others. 
  
   
• SWT provides a set of rich native controls over and above those offered by AWT, and many Java developers are finding this a useful GUI toolkit to use in their end-user applications.
  
   
• HTML is no longer being viewed as the only viable client for application development. A number of hybrid technologies that combine the benefit of server side computing with a client GUI have arisen, including Ultra Lightweight Client, Droplets, jFlash, Macromedia Royale, Asperon, thinlets and others.

This talk will look at the Java desktop space and discuss the issues and technologies, as well as discuss what is at stake if Java can and can't recapture its lost pride as a client platform.