i suggest reading the mailing lists of "project coin". it was very nice to read the proposals and how they have changed or rejected. http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/coin-dev/

it has been vigorously discussed in project coin list. and it most likely to be included in the Java 7. Along with collection literals. there is a javaone presentation about language changes. http://blogs.sun.com/darcy/resource/JavaOne/J1_2009-TS-4060.pdf

a better list: http://blogs.sun.com/darcy/entry/project_coin_consideration_round_2

They will add automatic resource management in Java 7. Check project coin. http://openjdk.java.net/projects/coin/

No, Sun should get the praise. Others just fork and try to lure customers without much sweat. most OO.org develoeprs were, and are from Sun.

Trust me. i firmly believe Google does not use .Net technology. They exclusively use only Java, Python or C++.