Effort to program in Java, is it efficient....

I'm getting some feedback in my company that while general in nature has me
thinking about Java in the big picture.   The two themes I'm getting are:

1.)  It's to complicated - it's a bazooka when we just need a bullet.  Now,
granted some of that can be how we are doing things so it's not just
pertaining to the language.

2.)  I have an end user with technical skills who keeps claiming to have
studies that shows when a similar development project is done between Java
and some other sort of technology that the Java side always takes more time
and is more expensive.

I apologize for the nature of these questions but I'm not sure on how to be
more specific but:

1.)  In broad terms can Java be implemented in a simple manner and does
that make sense in a lot of cases.  In my company we have probably over
complicated our environment with some original implementations of EJB's
that we are now regretting.  So, I realize that we may be the source of the
problem......
So, can it be done in a simple manner and what would be the best
implementation to keep it simple?

2.)  How does the JAVA language/environment stack up to other technologies?


Michael Crump
Manager, Computing Services
Saint-Gobain Containers
1509 S. Macedonia Ave.
Muncie, IN  47302
(765)741-7696
(765)741-7012 f
(800)428-8642

"I shall often go wrong through defect of judgement.  When right, I shall
often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of
the whole ground.  I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will
never be intentional, and your support against the errors of others, who
may condemn what they would not if seen in all its parts."  Thomas
Jefferson