I'd definitely agree with the comment above that people comfortable with Korn shell will adapt more easily to Perl than Java. Java is an incredibly wordy, _boring_ language that takes forever to code. (Yes, I've done it) I also just (at Sandia) was involved in maintaining several web systems that were completely implemented in ksh scripts as Apache CGI. I replaced some of them and added functionality with Perl scripts, which dropped quite nicely in.

A Java system is of necessity a complete rewrite. I think that's the only point that I don't think has yet been made in this thread. Perl can be introduced script by script, and that's a huge advantage when dinking with a production system.

Think long and hard before choosing Java because "it's the 'right' choice for enterprise development." :D