Question

JavaFX is a new technology introduced by Sun. I would like to know what are the limitations and pitfalls of JavaFX and silverlight………

Answer 1

The main problems I see with JavaFX are:

• It is very immature technology. While everything, as others have noted, must have a start somewhere, JavaFX is very immature technology in a field that has several more mature competitors. That makes all the difference. Flex/AIR and Silverlight are out there already and in active use all over the place. To tackle an entrenched market you need tools that are far superior to what’s out there, not just a little superior (if at all).
• It is stacked on top of the rather large JRE. The JRE is available on every major platform (and many minor ones) but it is not ubiquitously installed. The same is true of Flex/AIR and Silverlight, of course, but Flash is a lighter-weight solution than the whole JRE+JavaFX and the latter is basically a default on the target platform anyway.
• JavaFX is heavily reliant upon the huge infrastructure that surrounds Java. This is a strength, of course, given that if you need it there’s a library for it somewhere, but it is also a weakness in that it involves even more bloat than the JRE+JavaFX and starts to introduce you to the wonderful world of JAR Hell.
• The final reason to be wary of JavaFX: I prefer it to all of the other currently available RIA technology. (Yes, despite my critiques, I like it better.) If I like something, it is guaranteed to fail. Computing technology is positively littered with technologies I preferred over what was eventually chosen by the market. My liking something is a kiss of death for it.

One of those may not have been entirely serious….