Java, the Programming Language, not the Development Environment, is what I think he was talking about. The JVM is awesome and will be one of the platforms that

Java, the Programming Language, not the Development Environment, is what I think he was talking about. The JVM is awesome and will be one of the platforms that defines the next generation of languages (e.g. Clojure, Scala). Java the language is painful after writing in Lisp, Clojure, Ruby, et al. Edit: C# is also widely regarded as "superior" to Java.