JavaFX 1.2 is available now and I'm very impressed. First of all, I didn't expect any release before the end of this year. I was hoping for a preview/beta release here at JavaOne with new components and layout managers. Instead there is a full release, with even more than I was hoping for.

Most importantly: 

Components

 Finally some real JavaFX components. No wrapped Swing components, but full JavaFX components. The most important components are now included, such as a scrollbar, sliders, progress bars and a list component. Still basic (no fancy datagrid for example), but enough to be used seriously. All of the components are supporting CSS, which enables you to easily change the look & feel of your application just using standard components.

Charting

Besides all the standard components, some charting components are available. Again, all fully supporting CSS, and the API looks nice you use. 

Layout

The lack of layout managers was another important problem in the previous release. You were basically left calculating sizes and positions manually which is not very pleasant. First of all the way component sizes are calculated by a container is improved. Next they created some standard layout components. The containers are still simple (compared to the Swing layout managers), but they do the basic magic that's required for most applications. I was also happy to hear that the HBox and VBox are no working properly, which have cost me a few too much hours working around in the previous release. 

Great work by the JavaFX team, I'm impressed by the work done in just a few months.