New to Java

I'm a very seasoned C/C++ developer who's just learning Java. I have this gnawing question that's bugging me. It's rather elementary but it requires someone with experience to answer it.


If I'm delivering a standalone executable (C/C++) to a Windows or Linux customer, it is possible to deliver simply a "*.exe" file (windows) or a Linux Executable file (Linux) which can be installed and run immediately with no dependencies not included in a typical installation. (although, on linux, if there is a gui involved, a typical default Linux install may be missing some dependencies for the gui )

But in the Java world, since the JRE is not necessarily included in a Standard Windows or Linux default installation, my customer would always have to install the JRE on their machine before they can run any code that I produce in Java ...correct? And there is no way to execute a jarfile as a standalone; it always must be executed by the JRE ("java -jar <jarfilename.jar> ) ...right? And if I were to code a new GUI application in Java on the Linux platform, it would have to be run via "java -jar <gui_jarfilename.jar> ...correct?