You’re IT manager/director at a moderate sized, fairly successful company. You have to decide which technology platform to standardise on, because standards are good, and having a unified strategy will save money. Economies of scale and all that. You’re seeing lots of articles about .Net and Java, and how they increase productivity and leverage industry best practice. Looks good. If its industry best practice then most organisations must be doing it, and you wouldn’t want to be at a competitive disadvantage. Not only that but you will have a large pool of developers to recruit from, which is another big plus for risk reduction. You don’t want to select a technology platform that the majority of developers out there don’t have experience with.

You’re a developer looking to maintain your employability and keep your skills current. You keep an eye on the job listings and the technical press. You’re seeing lots of articles about .Net and Java, and how they leverage industry best practice and increase developer productivity. Looks good. If you can increase your productivity then you’ll be more attractive to employers, and less at risk of struggling to find work. Checking the job websites shows a healthy number of positions open in .Net and Java, which is another big plus for risk reduction. You don’t want to learn a technology platform that the majority of employers out there aren’t interested in.