Nope. Java is a pretty solid platform on the server. Client-side java was never alive, though it had a lot of hype.

Java had a moment on the client. We still have a few Java applets in our product (a file manager, an ssh/terminal client, probably a couple of others I'm not thinking of), though they are being re-written as AJAX apps as we speak. But all of the flaws in Java are still present even on modern machines with modern Java versions...so no use flogging a dead horse.

I'd like to see an AJAX ssh/terminal client. How do you plan to do that? Lots of XMLHttpRequest polling?

I hate that there isn't a way to do some kind of persistent socket connection in browser-Javascript, unless you include Flash into the mix.

Right. I will also add that although it still has a long way to go, java (and java libs/framework) is getting better all the time. Compare todays web-frameworks (like wicket & seam) to what we had 3 years ago - a lot of good ideas from other platforms are being absorbed into the java world.