I am a passive member and just read the emails. There was a seminar about
java technology at ISI which most of us filled in the list and got
subscribed :)

I am not sure this is not the first time that somebody claims something
about comparing .net and java. Anyways, I just wanted to comment on this.

I was involved with java  for couple of years, was a big fan of it (of
course the server side) but becuase of 'a project', I had to move to .net;
At first I tried to compare everything together. I remember myself keep
saying 'So what? this is exactly this.' and ...

Now, I am very comfortable with it and I really prefer .net becuase of
close interoperablity with other microsoft  based tools and interfaces to
unmanaged code.

I am not starting anything, but the thing is that we can use what ever we
are comfortable with (and of course with respect to the projects needs and
the available resources).

We are (trying to be) software  engineer. The most important part  in the
engineering is how to use currently available materials.

Do we spend much time on architectures? do we really use all the features
available by the technology? or we just make the developers to follow some
ancient traditions to make the code?

I recommend trying Visual Studio 2005. Also try

Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite
Visual Studio 2005 - Team Foundation Server

It's all in one solution. Seriously.