Development time can be longer than writing a simple script. But, if your server load is going to be high, applications that hook into the APIs will scale much better. Don't forget the wasteful model that we have created at this point. Unfortunately, most people don't understand the Java concept from the start. The most interesting aspect of Java i s what's called an applet.
Applets are pseudo-compiled programs that run in an interpreted mode.
Some software developers, such as Corel Corp., have announced that they will be porting all their apps to the Java development environment. Imagine how much closer they'll be to deploying productivity apps on the Net and intranet. In addition to providing cross-platform code, Java applets are run on the local machine, pushing the load off the server and onto the client. However, as mentioned, be forewarned that Java applet interpretation currently is very slow. Intranets, like every technology before them, are striving for the speed, flexibility, scalability and manageability network administrators demand.