It’s the end of the World’s Slowest News Week here in Java land, which also happens to be simultaneously the last week of 2008 and the first of 2009. The biggest news stories over the last year or so, I would submit, were the slow but steady rise of SpringSource, the real live birth of JavaFX, the proliferating number of JVM languages, and the downward spiral of Sun’s financial situation, with its possible impact on Java.So I put it to you: what will be exercising the minds of Java developers in the coming 12 months? My #1 guess is something off the 2008 list, the fate of Sun — there’s a good chance that there will be a merger, massive restructuring, or other similar crisis. This will have an impact on what should be the other big story: the development of Java 7, set for release in early 2010, but no doubt largely solidifying this year. Nothing about it is settled yet (good lord, people are still worked up about closures, or the lack thereof) and if Sun is busy selling itself off for parts or being absorbed by IBM/Fujitsu/the Sheinhardt Wig Corporation, the handling of the Java 7 transition may be rocky; it will definitely be a big test of the Java community’s ability to manage a true open source project.Any guesses as to what I’ll be wrapping up come early 2010? Chime in in the comments! Java