They're also referring to it as the Consumer JRE. ... "Consumers benefit from SE 6u10's improved startup time for Java applications and applets, the ability to drag Java applets directly from the browser and run them as desktop widgets, more powerful, stylized application graphics, a faster, simpler installation experience and a new cross-platform look and feel."

"For developers, Java SE 6u10 provides a built-in Deployment Toolkit that ensures end users are running the latest Java SE version and a new Java plug-in that offers full browser independence, complete interoperability with Web 2.0 technologies, and supports multiple Java versions being run simultaneously on the same machine."

Commenting on the importance of this Java SE update, Sun's Vice President of Java Client Engineering Jeet Kaul said that "Sun is making Java easier to install, faster to start and more reliable than ever, resulting in a monumental improvement to the overall consumer experience."

Will this be a turning point for increased adoption of Java on the desktop? Is Sun's effort too little and too late?

Will Microsoft with its Silverlight and Azure cloud environment take on greater market share? And what about Adobe Flex, and all those other platforms? As always, only time will tell.

Such competition is good. It's certainly encouraging to see all the vendors presenting contending products for our consideration.

Watch this space for more detailed follow-up reports about Java SE Update 10: the Java Quick Starter, the Java kernel, the Next-Generation Java Plug-In, the JDT (Java Deployment Toolkit) , improvements in graphics performance on Windows, plus "Nimbus" cross-platform look and feel, and more.