Here's an interesting editorial from Java Developer's Journal. Interesting not from it's deep insight, but from it's double-negative FUD on why Java is Doomed:
I've been engaged in some great debates over the last month on a variety of topics, but the one that has caught my interest is the old chestnut regarding the longevity of Java. Is it here to stay? If not, how long do we have? [...] I have my own feelings about where Java is headed and I do believe that if, as a community, we don't get our act together, we may have only five years left at the most. After talking to my counterparts, it would appear I'm being overly generous with five years.A rather interesting perspective, but irrelevant. No language lasts forever, let alone dominates for a prolonged period of time. That is just as true for Java as it is for Perl, C or C#. If anything, we're witnessing the end of an era of Java dominance and the beginning of an era of chaotic interplay between many similar languages and environments. Much like the days before C became ubquitous.
The editorial continues by restating some anti-C# FUD from the Java camp, and then corrects the facts (WinForms are better than Swing, and C# is for more than just Web Services on Win*).
This tidbit was also interesting:
I was recently involved with the Scottish government, discussing technology and what have you, where naturally the topic of Microsoft was high on the agenda. Excusing the fact that these people took a certain pride in believing they knew what was going on and loved name-dropping, the phrase that caught me off guard was the following: "Java? No one is doing that now. Microsoft is no longer supporting it."What? No one ever got fired for slavishly following Microsoft? I'm shocked!
It's also been hilarious watching the "Java is being left behind in Web Services!" FUD spread. Sun is learning that those who live by marketing die by marketing. Java's a pretty bloody good web services language, as is Perl and PHP and
--Nat
