There are three 'platforms' for building corporate applications today: J2EE, Microsoft.NET and the 'Open Source' platform. In the later I also include Java software that is not J2EE like Struts, WebWork, Hibernate, Castor, etc, etc.
Comparing the three, J2EE is the one that moves slower. .NET moves fast, as Microsoft decides what happens with it without having to discuss with anyone, and the open source community is probably the one that moves faster, even if with no clear direction.
In the last week I had couple of meetings with people from a big oil company and an airline company. Both have J2EE as their standard platform.
Slow moving is not a problem for most corporations. They usually move slowly, and they feel comfortable with 'designed by committee' technologies, so J2EE has a good value proposition for them.
Microsoft has not a good record on providing a stable platform for developers. I really believe this changed with .NET, but is not easy to convince a company that has tons of VB6 and ASP code that MS won't change it again.
Corporations have also other big fear, which is being a prisoner of a vendor. You can argue that J2EE is not portable, but you can also believe it is, and it's better to have a hope than to have no hope.
If you choose .NET you are deciding to buy Microsoft software from now on. You want to pay for it and you are happy with that. What you do not want is MS to overcharge you, and if you have reasons to think MS will do that if they have the chance, then it's hard to take that option.
I am not sure how bad it really was, but last year's changes in MS licensing terms was perceived as an abuse of MS power, and it could help MS to lose the real battle...
12:36:33 AM 
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