Java Platform Standard Edition 6

Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced the availability of Java Platform Standard Edition 6 (Java SE 6) today. In less than 2yrs of the release of Java SE 5, we have another version of Java. Hope the industry can catch up the new releases so quick. Considering the fact that IBM released the latest version of Rational developer platform today, which incorporates Java 5, it seems that Sun is going too fast. And we know that they already started working on Java SE 7 (dolphin). Here's a list of key features available in the new version.

• Scripting Language Support: The new framework API for scripting languages allow you to
  • Access and control Java technology-based objects from a scripting environment
  • Create web content with scripting languages
  • Embed scripting environments within Java technology-based applications
• New Security Features:The new security features include
  • Native platform Security (GSS/Kerberos) integration.
  • Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) login module that employs LDAP authentication
  • New Smart Card I/O API
• Integrated Web Services
  • New API for XML digital signature services for secure web services
  • New Client and Core Java Architecture for XML-Web Services (JAX-WS) 2.0 APIs
  • New support for Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB) 2.0

For a more complete list of the features, visit the Java SE 6 website.