JavaOne 2010 last year was good. I was really satisfied with technical content (= I learned a lot), but I missed the surprises and excitement.
This was absolutely fixed this year:

1. The technical setup, visual experience improved a lot.
2. GlassFish Community Event was already good last year, this year it was even more interesting: several GlassFish users reported their experience with GlassFish in production. We had long conversations after that. The party after that was excellent as always - with traditional guest: James Gosling.
3. The keynotes were informative, informal and funny. Even the partner keynotes were interesting (Juniper and IBM were interesting, and the Intel part was scheduled right: I installed and tested NetBeans 7.1 beta))
4. The keynote speakers did a great job, were entertaining and engaged. A huge difference to last year.
5. The technical content was good again. Because of that and really good hallway converstations I managed to pick the lunchbox only once. A very good sign. I spent from 8.00 AM to 22.00 PM at the conference attending sessions and discussing questions with attendees. Sleeping was optional...
6. I attended several sessions delivered by Oracle speakers - they were great as well - without any product pitches. Btw. one of my added values of JavaOne are Oracle (=prior Sun, BEA, JRockit, and Oracle) engineers talking about what they are doing: Java
7. The pavilion was packed with attendees and exhibitors. There was a lot more stuff, than last year

JavaOne 2011 greatly exceeded my expectations and surprised me at the same time. Twitter joins openJDK, Java FX 2 is skinnable with CSS 3, will be entirely opensource and shipped with JDK 1.7, JDK 1.7 preview on Mac is available, the new JavaScript engine looks promising and JDK 1.8 is around the corner. Jigsaw is looking really good and will play well with Java FX and Java EE 8.

1. I think Oracle will not give up Moscone peacefully (they need at least one huge room for the yacht :-)). BUT: every attendee I talked with really liked this year JavaOne. I think JavaOne will also grow next year. …but there will be not enough room in the hotels (“the zone”). So: spread the word, take your family to JavaOne and we will get Moscone back (this is the evil plan)
2. Sting and Tom Petty are nice, but Java is appealing as well. I would offer as alternative to this (great) party some BOFs. I would prefer to attend these. (I would probably revise this statement in case next year Metallica, U2, Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk, (…) will give a gig…)
3. * Although it is supposed to “Never Rain in California” I would seriously rethink the architecture of the Mason Street tent for next year :-)

Thanks for the JavaOne and see you next year!

1. Java FX runs on iPad, a linux based device :-) and Windows tablets - as a prototype
2. Java FX is going to be completely open source overtime (I think the engineers need some time to clean-up the code :-))
3. Apache TomEE is Java EE 6 WebProfile certified - now we have seven Java EE 6 certified servers
4. WebSphere CE is Java EE 6 WebProfile certified as well (and freely downloadable)
5. Twitter joins openJDK and JCP it uses Java, Scala and Clojure.
6. Announcement of Project Avatar - the event driven "synergy" of Java EE, SE and ME. Also: Java is able to manipulate HTML DOM
7. JDK 1.7 Developer Preview is available for Mac OS X
8. Java ME + SE will merge over time
9. ESPN moved from "proprietary" application container to Java EE 6 and Glassfish. The motivation: simplicity and scalability
10. Oracle stated: "NetBeans is a true success story and we will continue to invest in it". I would say: it is also a truly productive story :-)
11. Because JavaFX's small footprint it is going to be used as base for embedded devices as well

SPOKEN: 
In the cubicles representin’ for my JAVA homies… 
In by nine, out when the deadlines are met, check it. 

CHORUS: 
We code hard in these cubicles 
My style’s nerd-chic, I’m a programmin’ freak 
We code hard in these cubicles 
Only two hours to your deadline? Don’t sweat my technique. 

Sippin’ morning coffee with that JAVA swirl.  
Born to code; my first words were “Hello World”  
Since 95, been JAVA codin’ stayin’ proud 
Started on floppy disks, now we take it to the cloud.      

On my desktop, JAVA’s what’s bobbin’ and weavin’ 
We got another winning app before I get to OddEven. 
Blazin’ code like a forest fire, climbin’ a tree 
Setting standards like I Triple E…. 

Boot it on up, I use the force like Luke, 
Got so much love for my homeboy Duke. 
GNU Public Licensed, it’s open source, 
Stop by my desk when you need a crash course 

Written once and my script runs anywhere, 
Straight thuggin’, mean muggin’ in my Aeron chair. 
All the best lines of code, you know I wrote ‘em 
I’ll run you out of town on your dial-up modem. 

CHORUS: 
‘Cause… 
We code hard in these cubicles 
Me and my crew code hyphy hardcore     
We code hard in these cubicles 
It’s been more than 10 years since I’ve seen the 404. 

Inheriting a project can make me go beeee-serk 
Ain’t got four hours to transfer their Framework.  
The cleaners killed the lights, Man, that ain’t nice, 
Gonna knock this program out, just like Kimbo Slice 

I program all night, just like a champ, 
Look alive under this IKEA lamp. 
I code HARDER in the midnight hour,  
E7 on the vending machine fuels my power. 

Ps3 to Smartphones, our code use never ends, 
JAVA’s there when I beat you in “Words with Friends”. 
My developing skills are so fresh please discuss, 
You better step your game up on that C++. 

We know better than to use Dot N-E-T, 
Even Dan Brown can’t code as hard as me. 
You know JAVA’s gettin’ bigger, that’s a promise not a threat, 
Let me code it on your brain  

WHISPERED:  
so you’ll never forget. 

CHORUS: 
We code hard in these cubicles, 
it’s the core component…of what we implement. 
We code hard in these cubicles, 
Straight to your JAVA Runtime Environment. 

We code hard in these cubicles, 
Keep the syntax light and the algorithm tight. 
We code hard in these cubicles, 
Gotta use JAVA if it’s gonna run right.       

We code hard in these cubicles 
JAVA keeps adapting, you know it’s built to last. 
We code hard in these cubicles, 
Robust and secure, so our swag’s on blast 

CODE HARD!  

1. The keynote started with a nice "Code Hard" video.
2. Comparing to last year the number of attendees and the space was doubled.
3. Azul and SAP joined openJDK
4. Java FX 2.0 GA is available. javafx.com/downloads. Preview is also available for MacOSX
5. NetBeans 7.1 Beta is available
6. Early JDK 1.9 ideas were shared: self-tuning, native integration, big data, reification, tail calls/continuations, mop, multi-tenancy (...)
7. ...and #oracle likes : NoSQL
8. Project #nashorn (the German translation of "Rhino") is announced. Oracle's JavaScript re-implementation on JVM.
9. GlassFish was previewed to by able to deploy Paas application

NetBeans 7.1 Beta is available for download with CSS3 (with documentation) support, better Git support, New visual debugger, Java FX 2.0 support and Java EE improvements:

1. Cluster and Instance deployment support for GlassFish
2. JSF component suite support
3. 50+ CDI enhancements in Java editor
4. Improvements in Java Persistence, Web Services, EJB, WebLogic and more

My final JavaOne 2011 speaking schedule:

Session ID: 29621
Session Title: Part 1: GlassFish Community—The Foundation for Opportunity
Venue / Room: Moscone West - 2020
Date and Time: 10/2/11, 12:30 - 14:30

Session ID: 21641
Session Title: Java EE 6: The Cool Parts
Venue / Room: Hilton San Francisco - Imperial Ballroom A
Date and Time: 10/3/11, 12:30 - 13:30

Session ID: 21622
Session Title: Rethinking Best Practices with Java EE 6
Venue / Room: Hilton San Francisco - Imperial Ballroom A
Date and Time: 10/5/11, 13:00 - 14:00

Session ID: 23423
Session Title: The Road to Java EE 7: Is It All About the Cloud?
Venue / Room: Hilton San Francisco - Imperial Ballroom A
Date and Time: 10/5/11, 11:30 - 12:30

Monday, Oct. 3
5:30pm-6:30pm
Parc 55
Embarcadero

1. Technical content was great - just keep it - impossible to improve. I attended at JavaOne 2010 as many sessions as possible, there were no product pitches - just good technical content.
2. Location - don't keep it. Either back to Moscone, or find another cool location (a huge cinema?). Because of Separation of Concerns, Loose coupling to OOW would be great. Some Oracle Develop sessions, however, were really interesting as well.
3. Appreciation Event was great - I would prefer to attend BoFs. The best BoFs in the past took place during the "After The Dark Event". There should be a choice between party and content.
4. A "Java Is Cool / Cutting Edge etc." keynote with cool apps, devices, services etc. from the field would be great.
5. I would appreciate a keynote with Scott McNealy, John Gage, James Gosling, Bill Joy or guys like Bruno Souza - why not together with Larry Ellison :-) JavaOne 2009 keynote worked really well.
6. Put a Sun logo on the JavaOne t-shirts, e.g.: :-)