Java 6 has just been released. Deemed the best “out of the box” one ever, it incorporates over 300 bug fixes, helped along by an unprecedented stream of community-generated bug reports. Some of the added features include embedded Rhino Javascript engine from Netscape/Mozilla, major updates to training and tutorial materials, improved dTrace debugging support (Solaris only), Java DB (derived from Apache Derby) included with Sun?s package and full support for XML web services clients.

Sun and Microsoft worked closely on a Java release to improve integration and performance on Windows, particularly on the freshly released Windows Vista. Java 6 runs great on Windows Vista , which is clearly going to be getting a lot of consumer mindshare in the very near future. Sun and Microsoft also worked together to improve web services support and interoperability in Java 6. It?s nice to see these two companies cooperating on technical issues while still competing in the marketplace.

Source [Java product page] via [Java Lobby]