The very latest in Java desktop news from the last week, covering Swing, JavaFX and Griffon.

I'm just back from Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, where the star of the show was the latest update to the Silverlight browser plug-in that lets you run .NET applications cross-platform and within the browser. The pace of development is remarkable. It is only 9 months ago that we were first shown the beta of Silverlight 3, at the Mix conference in March. Silverlight 3 was fully released in July; and now we have version 4.0 beta, with release promised for the first half of 2010.

This Google is made from 100% Virgin pulp (What the heck?). After getting a look and feel of Google Chrome OS virtually, now you can actually feel Google physically by using toilet paper. A blogger from Vietnam has posted in his blog the picture of Google brand toilet paper which is being sold in Vietnam. Did Marissa Mayer design the wrapper of this toilet paper . I don’t really know. But when translating the text on the wrapper it goes like this Very long, soft, smooth. Of high vaccum, because you always. So, Next is What?

This morning I just installed Google OS Chrome on my Mac OS using Virtual Box. To my surprise, my first impressions are . . .

Two computer programmers designed codes to falsify thousands of fake trade blotters and phantom records for swindler Bernard Madoff and took hush money to help keep the massive fraud going, U.S. authorities said. The FBI arrested Jerome O'Hara, 46, and George Perez, 43, at their homes on Friday morning on criminal charges of conspiracy for falsifying books and records at both the broker-dealer and investment arms of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) in New York. "The computer codes and random algorithms they allegedly designed served to deceive investors and regulators and concealed Madoff's crimes," said federal prosecutor Preet Bharara. "They have been charged for their roles in Madoff's epic fraud, and the investigation remains ongoing." O'Hara's attorney Gordon Mehler said "We intend to enter a plea of not guilty" after Manhattan federal court magistrate judge Ronald Ellis ordered the men released on $1 million bail each with travel restrictions.

There are 8 alternative Ruby VM's and 4 of them will hit 1.0 status in the upcoming year. A detailed look at the past year and where the community is heading (hint: it's an exciting time to be a Rubyist).