Java versus .NET for service-oriented architecture (SOA) development is something less than the war of the worlds, but as an industry debate analysts offer contrasting views.

The Java side got something of a boost earlier this month when an Evans Data Corp. survey of 400 developers and IT managers actively working on Web services found an uptick in Java usage and a decrease in Microsoft .NET. Java was up slightly and .NET was down 20 percent from previous Evans surveys. But the net (no pun intended) result was that the two technologies were "virtually tied" in overall usage, with one in five respondents planning to use both, according to Evans.

Support for both is common say two analysts who offered contrasting views.

"I don't think this is as much a religious war as some people make it out to be, at least on the back end, the infrastructure end," said Bradley F. Shimmin, principal analyst of application infrastructure at Current Analysis LLC. "Most SOA server platforms support both Java and .NET environments fairly equally."