There was a big war between .net and java at the company between 2002 and 2004.

.Net lost because we could not retain .Net developers because the company could not afford the salary levels nor could it compete with contracting houses for "fun development" time (vs "unfun support time").

Java sort of won but not really. The salespeople brought in "even shinier" tools which would fix everything and showed them to management and now that is the focus. The issue with Java is that our programmers actually get to program about 8 to 16 hours a week due to Sox controls.

We really let outside contractors run wild but keep an incredibly tight leash on our in house staff. Apparently because a Sox violation would raise our insurance and drop our stock.

I think ultimately, the company is headed towards canned software. The cost of legal compliance in custom software and staff retention was higher than they want to sustain. Even when the canned software fails, the executives define it as succeeding so the writing is on the wall.

Windows will be our desktop for the future- but Windows 7 is just not going to happen. I say 2 years but I'm betting more like 4. And where they *really* seem to want to go is virtual and locked down desktops for everyone (no personal data or programs of any kind).