"There are certainly people in the 'big house' that have Java envy," said Don Box last week, at the OOPSLA conference in Vancouver. "I know that for every Java idea there are probably three different implementations of it in .NET floating around Microsoft," he added.

The discussion took place in a debate billed as "The Great J2EE vs. Microsoft .NET Shootout" by the OOPSLA organizers.

Other Java-related statements from the session:


Hejlsberg: "there's a kernel of simplicity in the Java system"

"I respect that "I respect that there's a kernel of simplicity in the Java system that's probably long since been drowned out by lots of libraries"

Anders Hejlsberg, Microsoft distinguished engineer and lead designer for the C# language

Box: "Java...keeps putting more troops into the Vietnam that is O/R"

"I marvel at how many O/R layers there are on the Java side. The thing that scares me about a lot of their O/R approaches is it's basically going back to the early '90s model? I hope the Java community keeps putting more troops into the Vietnam that is O/R."

Don Box, leading architect on Microsoft's Indigo project



John Crupi: "Microsoft...have seen the successes of Java"

"Microsoft is in an interesting position in that they have seen the successes of Java and Java technology and were able to learn that and apply it. And the ways that they're applying it, some are very interesting and some are still lacking in addressing all the needs of the enterprise developer."

John Crupi, chief Java architect for Sun Services at Sun Microsystems