from here:

If you ask most people, Java on the desktop has faded into obscurity - partially from neglect on Sun's part, but partially from the realisation by developers that it was easier to develop and deliver software to the web top than it was to the desktop. Only recently has the Java Plugin and Java Web Start made it possible to deliver desktop applications in a pain-free manner for the users.

On the money quote, there. Pretty neat idea -- they are showing what you might be able to do with a "Java-only tool suite", so to speak, based on a similar idea from CNET that had some guys try to not use MS software for a month. Now why the two schmoes used Linux and not Mac OS, I'll never know... ;^)

At any rate, on the page are replacements for pretty much everything. from office suites to email to instant messaging. Though on a little more inspection, things don't look good. Pretty "icky" apps.

I have noticed a huge number of bugs in Apple's 1.4.1 implementation of Swing, and relatively little noise on the Apple Java dev list. There's been more complaining about Swing & Apple's 1.4.1 on the Furthurnet developers' list than Apple's. The lesson there is, pretty obviously, I think, that people aren't making Java client apps. With the exceptions of Limewire, jEdit and possibly Furthurnet and SQuirreL-SQL, there's just not much out there.