Emergence of JavaFX

JavaFX began as a project by Chris Oliver called F3 which stands for “Form follows function”, and its purpose was to explore making GUI programming easier in general.

 F3 attempted to demonstrate that we're not exploiting the full capabilities of the Java platform for GUI development. Taking together the supporting tools like F3, Java platform is highly competitive with or superior to competing GUI development platforms such as Macromedia Flash/Flex/Open Laszlo, Adobe Apollo, Microsoft WPF/XAML, Mozilla XUL, AJAX/DHMTL.

At the 2007 JavaOne Conference, Sun introduced two products in the JavaFX family: JavaFX Script and JavaFX Mobile.

JavaFX: A big picture

From smart cards to mobile phones to enterprise applications and supercomputers, Java technology has become one of the world's most significant and pervasive platforms. Java technology truly is everywhere. The JavaFX family will make it easier than ever to build and quickly deploy rich Internet applications and interactive content on clients ranging from the browser to devices.

The JavaFX product family leverages the Java platform's write-once-run-anywhere portability, application security model, ubiquitous distribution and enterprise connectivity

Today's Internet offers a world of possibility for those who can quickly develop and deploy rich internet applications (RIAs). But only the Java platform is pervasive enough on mobile devices and browsers to effectively marry client- and browser-based technologies with RIAs enabling applications to run on multiple platforms virtually unchanged. JavaFX is Sun's new product family that addresses this market. JavaFX Script will enable developers to more quickly and easily develop RIAs and next-generation services that can be proliferated across virtually any device -- from desktop browsers and mobile devices, to set-top boxes and Blu-ray Discs -- securely and without local installation. JavaFX Mobile software makes these type of applications a reality for the mobile world.