From my experience in different companies, big and small, decisions are made based on the number of factors: * Trade journals, as you said, which appeal solely

From my experience in different companies, big and small, decisions are made based on the number of factors: * Trade journals, as you said, which appeal solely to the corporate bosses; although I'd give this a lower importance among others. * Wages and availability of programmers in the job market. * A chance for the boss to understand the language and/or to talk about architecture on the meetings easily, if needed. This one is interesting, as, I think, that's the main reason Java is popular. Smarter bosses can read some semi-technical journals, where "patters", "methodologies" and "common practices" are explained well for them -- just for them. So, Java clearly wins in all 3 points, while Lisp loses in all 3.