"Disclaimer though is that I was one of the Java guys and I had completely bought into the notion of 'write once, run anywhere'. Making that true turned out to be impossible for a number of reasons, not the least of which that the underlying OS providers were hostile to the idea."
The company I work for uses Java and targets Windows, AIX, HP-UX, AS/400, and Linux. We have remarkably few portability problems with our Java code. It all "just works", as advertised.
I'd be curious to know where all your Java portability problems stem from. The UI (Swing)?
In any case, I do share some concern and skepticism that web apps will rule the roost. At least one company, Microsoft, would seem motivated to make sure web apps cannot completely replace desktop apps, and thus will always subtly cripple IE, the dominant web browser.
The company I work for uses Java and targets Windows, AIX, HP-UX, AS/400, and Linux. We have remarkably few portability problems with our Java code. It all "just works", as advertised.
I'd be curious to know where all your Java portability problems stem from. The UI (Swing)?
In any case, I do share some concern and skepticism that web apps will rule the roost. At least one company, Microsoft, would seem motivated to make sure web apps cannot completely replace desktop apps, and thus will always subtly cripple IE, the dominant web browser.