Originally Posted by
Artificial_Intelligence
My take on the matter is if java is not let free it will die. As some of you may or may not know the entire dot net platform is in own words the best version of java I have ever seen (java without the quirks). Microsoft has taken java’s better attributes into its dot net platform and replaced or fixed the other things that made java less useful. When “MS” made the specs of the cli (common language runtime) free this open up the gate for new more robust implementation of any and ever language and along came mono(Linux, Unix) to challenge or supplement the windows version of dot net. Mono is now poised to be the first choice for web and desktop application development replacing java (in the web arena).
So, what have I to say on the matter? I say if mono/dot net gets there way java is as good as dead. The open source community has a long standing quality for keeping projects alive and this is where java is heading (achieve community). As the man said it's just a matter of when.