I'm totally with you on the Java and PHP front. We spent several months trying to bring Java into the mix. We've spent twice that trying to get rid of it completely. (nearly there). Java was a disaster for what we were doing.

All I wanted were some simple web pages talking to a database. I brought in very highly recommended Java experts. They had me with Hibernate and Springs and a host of other things (including using Eclipse as an editor). I asked them to do a few pages. The pages worked and then they showed me how many files were involved in the process. I nearly gagged. It was WAY over-engineered.

We pitched that and went with PHP and cranked out the app even with the delay we suffered from trying to go the Java route.

I'm not trying to dis Java. I just know it isn't for me, and I can usually out-code a Java person in terms of time and robustness. The only 'selling' point Java has in my company over Perl is that Java has become 'The Standard' (tm) so we have a million so-so java developers we can throw on a project. *sigh*

Good luck with the perl evangelizing. I hope it pays off in the end. Oh, and I haven't had to do anything in Windows for 10yrs+.