Sun Microsystems hasn't been in the forefront of the tech news over the past few years, but they have been quietly working away on areas such as Rich Internet Applications (RIA's) and 3d applications, all built on their Java technology framework, and labeled JavaFX. While clearly this is aimed at the same general market that Adobe and Microsoft are pursuing vis-a-vis Flash/Flex RIA's and Silverlight, there's another possible candidate that they could aim their sights at: Second Life.

The interesting aspect of JavaFX is that a rollout of 3d applications built on the Java framework would seem to have an immediate edge in terms of integrating with existing Java based deployments in the enterprise, which would solve a number of issues for business solutions around security, data integration, and application integration. In short, the old J2EE deployments could serve as a platform on which the JavaFX RIA's get built, including 3d virtual RIA's.

Where would that leave Second Life? It's difficult to say, but certainly it faces a very competitive landscape. We will likely see Flash 3d RIA's on the consumer side very soon, OpenSim is threatening SL on the server side, Microsoft and Google have early stage deployments of RIA's and 3d, and JavaFX could make an interesting dent on the Enterprise 2.0 side. It will be an area to watch closely. It will likely be 2009-2010 before 3d RIA solutions really make a huge move in the market, so it's going to be difficult to pick winners until more of the dust has settled.








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