More Evidence of Flex's Popularity with the Java Crowd

JSR-296 Specification ("Swing Application Framework") Lead Hans Muller has announced that he is leaving Sun Microsystems to work for Adobe on Flex.

With this announcement and the recent announcement of Chet Haase going to work on Flex, there is obviously some consternation in the Java Swing community. I really like Java, especially on the server-side, but Flex does provide an almost irresistible allure. As I have stated in previous posts, if my application must be web-based, it is very difficult to think of a more compelling combination than Flex front end + Java EE backend. Trying to be an optimist, I see the movement of two major players in the Java Swing world to the Flex world as evidence that there is much for Java-centric developers to appreciate about Flex. However, it is not surprising that the "glass is half empty" viewpoint might be more negative.