In an article written on the Register entitled "Oracle's Java plan trapped in last century", Matt Stephens makes the comment: 

"The one feature that genuinely is vital for Java to succeed in the cloud has been pushed back yet again. Lambda functions (essentially closures) are now set to appear in Java 8 (yes, 8) - though I'll believe it when I see it."

I whole heartedly disagree.  I believe enterprise Java in the cloud is here (witness Google App Engine).  I feel that there is a key feature that needs to become available to make Java better in the cloud.   JSR 121 - Application Isolation API.