Java development is getting easier under Linux because of Sun’s OpenJDK, which linux distributors like Fedora now include. No more need to go through the hassle of downloading it from Sun. Here’s how I installed it.
yum install java-1.6.0-openjdk-devel java-1.6.0-openjdk-javadoc java-1.6.0-openjdk-plugin
A downside is that the default fonts in some Java applications, like IntelliJ IDEA, look terrible. Fedora 9 includes the RedHat Liberation fonts, which stand in for Microsoft fonts. I went into IDEA’s configuration, and changed the default font from “Arial” to “Liberation Sans”. IDEA’s visual appearance is nearly, but not completely, _fontastic_ compared to what it was before.