According to Cay Horstmann, channelling Joe Darcy, "Properties, reification of generics, and closures are definitely out" of Java 7. Closures in Java are a horrible idea, so that's a bullet dodged, at least for another few years. Properties are syntax sugar at best so that's no big loss. Reification of generics might actually make sense but only at the cost of breaking backwards compatibility, and that's something Sun will never do. (But will Oracle? I guess we'll have to wait and see.)