Effective Java: the future of Java UI?

In this topic the impending demise of JavaFX is foretold.

So what is the future of Java UI? Will Swing keep limping along? Or will "desktop" apps become web UIs? Perhaps with embedded web engines for self-containment? Or is even the future of the desktop app itself in question?

I think Swing, although dated, will not lose support until we live in an age where either Java isn't supported anymore, or we use web-based applications only.

It's a huge amount of work to create a UI framework, and most efforts are probably focused on the web. Swing does a decent enough job at desktop applications.

I agree with Stephan. The future of Java desktop GUI is its past: Swing. It's not great, but it is what it is, and there's enough legacy code out there that it will be supported forever. That said, the real future of Java GUI is likely Android, just as the real future of client-side computing is mobile. I have little experience in mobile GUI programming, so I have little wisdom to offer in this area.

I take advantage of this interesting Bear's question to ask you if you think that with Java "withdrawal" from GUI side of application, in favour of a mainly server-centric usage, may or not slowly undermine Java's popularity in favour of other language runtimes.
I'm thinking about the rise of Node.js (or similar technologies) which allows you to use the very same programming language on both server and client side (the so called isomorphic applications).

Hi Claude. I don't think Java has withdrawn from the GUI side. I think it (the language, not the trademark) is more popular on the client side than it's ever been before, thanks to Android.  In fact, I suspect that Android has done more to keep the Java ecosystem healthy in the past decade than any other factor. That said, there's no denying that web-centric clients (HTML5, Node.JS, etc.) are becoming more popular day by day. Java never made it beyond the status of a niche player on the "traditional desktop." The main areas where Java has a non-trivial presence on the desktop are IDEs and internal (mainly corporate) applications. Java's real popularity stemmed from its success on the server side and and in education, until Android came along. Now it really is used widely on the server and client sides.

Joshua Bloch wrote: I think it (the language, not the trademark) is more popular on the client side than it's ever been before, thanks to Android.

You're right ! Not being an app developer, with 'GUI side' I still mean only desktop applications.... My fault.
Thanks for the reply !