Trend towards platform specific languages

Ok...while I sit here twiddling my thumbs waiting for a java-based website to 
open...(can you say IBM?)... I can't help but wonder if we are eventually going 
to see the pendulum swing back and the current fad of making everything 
non-platform specific will thankfully and hopefully die and instead we'll move 
back to writing code using whatever language runs best (fastest, cleaner and 
more stable) on whatever O/S and hardware it's designed for.

If it's on an iSeries, let it be RPG or Cobol.  If it?s on a Windows machine, 
let it be .Net.  If it's on a unix box...send it back and buy an iSeries.

I have to ask....WHY?!? Is it so critical that every application be platform 
agnostic?  What kind of goofy logic is this that we've all bought into the last 
few years?  We allow ourselves to sacrifice performance and productivity (and 
experience) because someone has convinced us that our order entry app should 
run equally well on an iSeries AND! A toaster?!?

Maybe i'm having a bad day but here I am 3 minutes later and my page on ibm's 
site hasjust now opened (and i'm on a T1 line today) and this 
eclipse/java/Websphere bandwagon seems somewhat luducrous to me at the moment.