From December 12-14 the Java community descended on Antwerp, Belgium for the annual JavaPolis conference.

JavaPolis is a unique conference as it's organized by the Belgian Java User Group & lead by Stephan Janssen along with a committee of volunteers.

This year's event was sold out with over 3,200 attendees from more than 40 countries around the world - including members from more than 30 JUGs. Over 100 speakers filled 2 1/2 days of sessions, along with 2 University Days. In addition, more than 400 students from neighboring universities and high schools were given free passes to attend the University Days - pretty cool!

As a sponsor of JavaPolis, Sun had a large presence at the conference. James did the opening keynote for the event, where the big news was the "official" availability of the long-awaited NetBeans 6. James also gave updates on Java-based technologies including: OpenJDK, GlassFish, Java ME, JavaFX Script and Java SE 6 Update N. 

Tim Cramer, executive director, Consumer Solutions at Sun had a spot in the day 2 keynote, where he talked about developing applications for mobile devices - using NetBeans and gave an update on the plans for JavaFX Mobile.

JavaPolians also had the opportunity to get more info on these (and other) projects and technologies from an impressive group of experts from Sun including:
Mark Reinhold
Francois Orsini
Chet Haase
Roberto Chinnici
Pat Patterson
Danny Coward
Alexis Moussine-Pouchkine
Patrick Curran
Harold Carr

 Sun even had "virtual" presence when Tor Norbye joined the rest of the Java Posse for a special JavaPolis edition of the show - #154. (That's Tor in the blue hat along with Joe Nuxoll on the right screen  - Dick Wall & Carl Quinn were "live" at the conference.)

Here are some additional photos from the JavaPolis experience: