The transformers aren't there to convert to DC. They are there to drop the voltage from 120v to more usable levels. In fact, it is much harder to regulate DC voltage, so my computer that wants 12v DC, my CD player that wants 3v DC, and my nintendo that wants 10c DC would be out of luck in a 20v DC house.

First of all, this is TMC, not Microsoft.

Clearly many here on Slashdot are lumping them in together. However, the point is that quite a few posts have berated Microsoft for publishing any numbers that don't have optimization the way they see fit. In other words, with this crowd it's a situation that Microsoft just can't win at.

_TMC_ said they optimized the code. They shouldn't have said it if it wasn't true, or they should have stated their lack of J2EE expertise. Their behavior was unethical if that is the case

Was it faster than the PetStore that Sun provided? Yes? Then they optimized the code. The nuances of every subjective choice aside, if the Java community can do a better job, then shouldn't they just do it? This is not a big application: In the grands scheme of things it's quite tiny, so this isn't such a onerous and impossible task. Let's see some action rather than just talk. Then the Java community, which could fairly approach Sun for funding which I assure you they'd get, could set up a "www.j2eeVsdotnet.com" website and proclaim to the world how they did it in % less code, and it runs % faster. Of course, I truly don't think it's possible, but that's not stopping all you Java fanatics from pretending that it is.