There is an interesting discussion thread on theserverside.com related to the complexity of J2EE.

It seems that many J2EE developers are disgruntled.   Some blame J2EE for the exodus of jobs from the USA due to customer dissatisfaction.   It seems that many J2EE developers feel that they where better off before moving into J2EE and evaluate J2EE as a failure.   Some defend the complexity of J2EE as a necessary evil for things such as transactions, authentication etc.

I remember reading that Perl was supposed to fade away and that Java would become paramount.   Yet it seems that Perl continues to thrive and grow as Java seems to be failing on the server as it has on the desktop.

My question is how suitable is Perl for high-end (like Banking, Insurance etc)applications.   Is there an application server like approach available for Perl and how do Perl developers manage transactions and authentication and other activities thought to be only managed by J2EE and proprietary solutions such as SAP.