I just finished reading (well, heavy skimming) “Beyond Java” by Bruce A. Tate.

Definitely worth the read.  It's short.

Here's the short review.

This is definitely not a programming book. It's a lot more like reading a Gartner report or other market research/prediction report.

Pro: Learning about the existence continuation servers was excellent and would have made the effort to read the book worth it alone. It made me think, "yah...why do we put up with the hassles of the stateless HTTP model?"

Con: There were some pockets of knee-jerk, anti-Microsoft sentiment that I found tired and off-putting. It also stuck out like a sore thumb since the rest book is so open-minded and takes a seriously cold, hard look at the state of Java and the alternatives.

Summary: If you're an independent consultant or the owner of a dev business, you should read this book. He might not be right but it's a heads up that there's probably going to be another sea change in tech. I think he's dead-on that Java has gotten a little too bloated to serve the small and middle sized dev project.

_-_Ben