http://weblogs.java.net/blog/editors/archives/2006/12/break_on_throug.html

Java SE 6 goes final

Two years ago, Java SE 6 was in about the same stage that Java SE 7 is today: it existed as a code-base, with ongoing development to existing features, and major features yet to be decided. Meeting with some of the engineers, it struck me that there was this thing that would be called Java SE 6 (actually we called it something else back then), and we didn't even know what it would be, but we did know precisely how we'd get there. And how we were getting there (and why the O'Reilly editors were at the meeting) was that it was to be an open-source development project on java.net, one which has been offering binary and source drops since late 2004.

And as of today, Java SE 6 is final.

So how did it work out? Probably the best sign of success is that that there were a number of outside contributors contributing code -- check out a podcast interview from the java.net booth at JavaOne in which I spoke with Brian Harry, Jesse Sterr, and Andy Tripp about their experiences contributing to JDK 6.

So, before we turn our focus to JDK 7, let's take a minute to congratulate everyone who contributed to this major new release. After all, there's a lot in JDK 6. Its major new features are described in JSR-270, and include integrated web services, scripting language support, more desktop API's (including the famous SwingWorker), a compiler API, pluggable annotations, Swing L&F improvements, LCD subpixel rendering, XML digital signature API's, JDBC 4.0, and more.

What are you waiting for? If you're on a supported platform, go download...