"In this installment, I'd like to touch on an oft-forgotten but increasingly important component of the Linux desktop: Java applications. Since Java is largely distribution neutral, what Java code works on Fedora Core works for Debian, Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake, and any number of other distributions. And, yes, Java applications really do exist, and some are actually good.
"Due to licensing issues (bundling Java with an operating system is a significant expense), Linux desktop distributions typically omit the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), the engine that runs all Java applications. But for our purposes, as end-users, that's moot: anyone can download and run Sun's Java 2 Standard Edition for free..."
