“jbob” comments about how Java and Linux are a good fit for each other, and that better access to the internals of linux would make it even better. I definitely agree that Java and Linux are a good fit, but they are a good fit only because Java provides a platform independant abstraction. Providing access to the internals of linux from Java would remove the biggest advantage Java has over C/C++ because the code would no longer be portable. Ways to make Java programs look and act like either GNOME or KDE apps would be great (particularly if it’s done through the Swing L&F mechanism so it looks right on which ever desktop system you choose), but getting into the internals of Linux – just write it in C and get access to anything you want. One last thing:

For example, I don’t know of any way to update a Windows registry using Java I think you’re looking for the Preferences api that was added in Java 1.4. It’s a platform independant abstraction of essentially the Windows registry which adapts to store it’s data the right way on each system. So on Windows the data is stored in the registry and on OS X the data is stored in ~/Library/Preferences. What, you weren’t going to update someone else’s registry entry were you? Naughty….