I think in general there's more inovation in Java EE than Java JRE at this point.

What people don't see is that Microsoft changed c# very much from the early days, trying to compete with Java.
Dynamic types were addedd to support LINQ, which was added to counter the raise of ORM like Hibernate and later JPA.

In reality, MS has no strategy, they are just adding and adding fetaures, which are percived as invoation, but in reality are just lack of platform strategy. Throw it to the wall and se what sticks is what they do.

Really? I was around int the '90s and have no recollection of that.

Please, don't be naive. MS first tried to poison Java by proprietary API (the same tactics Google is using in Android). When they failed, they created a copy of Java, invented a "new" language which is for some reason unbelievable similar to Java + some nice features and started the "developers, developers, developers" mantra. They called .net "java killer" internally, BTW.

Java was and still is a major risk for Microsoft.

To be replaced by what?

How many milliseconds does it take to boot the OS? I do agree, however, that JVM should cache it's internal state between sessions. Jrockit had something like this, but they dropped it.

What makes Java special: - it was the first ever platform to unify different platforms and systems under the same umbrella, accessible by the same API - to this day, it still is the only platform on which you can reuse your expertise and develop for anything, from x86 machines to machines like system z and SPARC and even smart phones and smart cards. You know Java? You can work on any of those systems. Aint that something? - Java can run on bare metal hypervisor, without an actual OS (Jrockit virtual edition) - It's also the only true enterprise ready open platform, approved by FSF - It's vendor independent and is going to stay that way, with at least two major vendors behind it (IBM and Oracle). Can you say so what o any of those?

Linkq seems nice, but really, what problems does it solve? In reality, it's a pain to maintain. Hard core devs who write the code want to move on to new projects. Devs maintaining the old codebase are in many cases less proficient. Java is boring, verbose and gets the job done in this regard. As for the UI I agree. Some of that is answered by JavaFx, but I personally think it's a step into a wrong direction. Anyway, aren't like 90% apps web based these days?

Would you risk your next big project to run on Mono? Is Java the lesser evil again?

I, for one, would not a use a phone / OS BECAUSE it syncs with Google. So Googless Android is the only kind of Android that appeals to me.

How so? My P1i from a few years back is a java-enabled touch screen phone.

Good point. I think there's an aircraft visible in the video, possible passenger jet, so probably no NOTAMs

I'm not sure about ME, but EE uses the same JVM, just different flavor (-server switch in JVM). EE is implemented by application servers, not JVM.

Oracle already has free and pay-for JVM: HotSpot is free, JRockit is not. I expect the free JVM will be just fine for desktops and small servers. I'd expect pay-for JVM to target enterprise solutions. And again, I expect them to ship this JVM for free with their middleware products (Weblogic etc.). But yes, this sucks for JBoss.

As a hobbyist photographer I must say producing the lighting of the Eiffel Tower is a hell of a job, while pressing the shutter button is... well.. pressing the shutter button. There is alot creativity in photography, but taking photos of other's people work it aint.

Do we have AD like single sign on at least for linux servers? No? How about clients then? No?

Seriously, how do you guys handle root password management for servers? SSH is not the real answer here, IMHO.

Eastern Europe? Really? We've been using Office since Windows 3.1, which also had EE version.