FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.6.0_10-ea"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_10-ea-b12)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 11.0-b11, mixed mode, sharing)

ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]


EXTRA RELEVANT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION :
Windows L&F

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
Often people complain about Swing just not looking as good as native Windows applications, even using the Windows L&F.

This Bug Report collects most differences for JFileChooser.

Please send me a short note to my email address and I will forward two screenshots (Windows and Swing) to better describe the differences and why those are so essential in this topic.

1) Aspect Ratio: Swing's dialog is too wide and not high enough. It doesn't feel like a Windows dialog, since it is so wide.
2) Word Truncation: Windows prints „Netzwerkumgeb“ (trailing „ung“ is omitted) while Swing – ugly – seems to print the whole word „unter“ the next control.
3) Pressing „Cursor Up“ in Swing prints this ugly frame about „Zuletzt verwendete Dokumente“ while Windows just doesn't show that frame at all (it is useless in Windows).
4) The buttons „Öffnen“ and „Abbrechen“ are too wide in Swing. Such wide buttons look strange to Windows users.
5) „Suchen in:“ is right-aligned with the right border of the white navigation panel below it in Wndows. „Suchen in:“ in Swing seems to be not aligned at all. This looks „disarranged“.
6) Comparing the two screenshots below you'll notice that the „Search in:“ combo box in Windows is higher than the „Search in:“ combo box in Swing. In fact, Swing's edit box is so low that the leading icon of the selected root folder is truncated, what looks very ugly.
7) The buttons right to the „search in:“ combo box have a different spacing
8) The buttons right to the „search in:“ combo box are actually totally different! Windows: Back, Up, New Folder, View. Swing: Up, New Folder, Tiles View, Details View.
9) Windows allows to change the view using an arrowed icon, while Swing uses two different buttons.
10) Windows allows much more views. People often complained about the fact that Swing only supports „Tiles“ and „Details“, while Windows supports „Thumbnails“, „Tiles“, „Symbols“, „List“ and „Details“. Especially Thumbnails is used by lots of people to have a preview of the content inside of the file chooser for ALL files. People HATE file choosers that only preview the selected file, because they must click-through all the files and – in case of Swing – do not get the Windows Preview API called (which works even for Photoshop .psd or Acrobat .pdf files).
11) By default, Windows shows that the sorting is set to „Name“ using a small arrow. Swing by default doesn't show the current sorting.
12) Comparing the screenshots below, it is obvious that the spacing between lines and between folder-icon and folder-caption is different between Windows and Swing.
13) The Swing file chooser shows a blank panel that takes lot of space. This is quite ugly. (I know, you use it for that hated single-file preview).
14) The „Scroll-Up“ button at the right in Windows overlaps the column header row. Swing's does not, leaving an ugly gap.
15) The column header in Windows have a bottom bevel. That is NOT cut to sections. Swing's IS cut into sections.
16) The anti aliasing is working different, making Windows looking more smooth
17) There is no „pull here“ area in the lower-right corner of Swing's dialog, while there is one in Windows.
18) Swing shows a Dialog icon in the title bar, but no help icon. Windows shows a help icon but no dialog icon.
20) The icon „zuletzt verwendete dokumente“ has different style of word wrapping, and in Swing it misses some inset to the top of the surrounding box (in fact, in Swing the icon's top is truncated!)
21) I did not check it completely, but it seems to be that the spacing between the edit controls' frames and the contained text is different between Windows and Swing, maybe just one pixel or so, but it looks different.
22) The navigation control that allows to select a root folder (the big bar at the left of the dialog containing „Desktop, Eigene Dateien, Arbeitsplatz“ and so on is has different spacing to the dialog frame and to the table view
23) There is a while line surrounding the column header bar in Windows, while there is no such white line in Swing. Same for the scroll bars.
24) The column „name“ in Windows has a light grey background, while in Swing it has the same white background as all other columns.

Small differences, but exactly those make people say: „I don't like Swing since it just doesn't look like Windows.“. All those details should be fixed to stop people from saying that Java is „strange“ and doesn't feel like a good Windows desktop citizen.

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
Write to my email address to get the needed screenshots, the go step by step through the provided list of differences.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
Swing's JFileChoose must look as close to Windows' native FileOpenDialog as any possible. If not, people will not feel comfortable with it and expect to have something like an alien, but not a "good Windows desktop citizen" on their screen.
ACTUAL -
Swing's JFileChooser looks much too different from Windows' native FileOpenDialog.

REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :