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The numbers are a bit out of date as the quote is from the 2002 timeframe but here's one about the google hardware:

Because Google servers are custom made, we'll use pricing information for comparable PC-based server racks for illustration. For example, in late 2002 a rack of 88 dual-CPU 2-GHz Intel Xeon servers with 2 Gbytes of RAM and an 80-Gbyte hard disk was offered on RackSaver.com for around $278,000. This figure translates into a monthly capital cost of $7,700 per rack over three years.

The cost advantages of using inexpensive, PC-based clusters over high-end multiprocessor servers can be quite substantial, at least for a highly parallelizable application like ours. The example $278,000 rack contains 176 2-GHz Xeon CPUs, 176 Gbytes of RAM, and 7 Tbytes of disk space. In comparison, a typical x86-based server contains eight 2-GHz Xeon CPUs, 64 Gbytes of RAM, and 8 Tbytes of disk space; it costs about $758,000.2 In other words, the multiprocessor server is about three times more expensive but has 22 times fewer CPUs, three times less RAM, and slightly more disk space. Much of the cost difference derives from the much higher interconnect bandwidth and reliability of a high-end server, but again, Google's highly redundant architecture does not rely on either of these attributes.
Quote from here.

Doing a quick google search it appears that C# often beats Java or shows comparable performance in most tests. That is unless you're a Java zealot who bases opinions on limited and unfair tests.

In real-world applications, C# matches up quite well to Java's speed.

All I can say to this is: Wahhh!

I can think of 101 reasons why not use .NET: http://www.manageability.org/manageabilityWiki/Why JavaIsBetterThanDotNet

Lists are only as good as the categories that you have. The categories at CodeZoo are overly simplistic, furthermore at lot of entries don't fit the category their in. For example "Data Format" and inside it you have "OpenForecast".

For a list with excellent categorization see:

http://www.manageability.org/blog/opensource

Java's big attraction was that it came with 'CPAN', that is, the Java API. Java API has equivlants of Net::Socket, Net::SMTP, LWP and File::IO. These were big plusses back when it arrive circa 1995.

What i don't see in this OReilly yet are Date::Calc, Text::Autoformat or such.

See also: http://www.manageability.org/blog/opensource/view and
http://www.johnmunsch.com/archives/2004_07.html#00 0975 (can't seem to get the darn '#' working in /.)

Groovy has been taking a lot of heat lately. Boo seems not to suffer from the management/community problems Groovy has. In fact, Boo is just plain more exciting; Groovy is just Ruby disguised in Java syntax, as far as I can tell, whereas Boo takes what's best about Ruby (heavy emphasis on closures/blocks), Python (indent-based scoping, first class functions), and C# (static typing, properties, annotations, "using", p/invoke, .NET native), and one-ups them with type inference. It really does provide the best of both static and dynamic typing; there is NO compromise here as far as I can tell.

As a bonus, the tool support is already very good. As with any self-respecting scripting language, it includes an interactive interpreter. (Boo scripts can be interpreted or compiled.) The Visual Studio .NET debugger already works with Boo, and if you write your Boo code in SharpDevelop (a free IDE for .NET platform) you can get code completion, syntax highlighting, code folding, etc. And since it's all statically typed, there is hope for IntelliJ-like refactoring tools, although I don't think any exist yet.

Bottom line, I think any Python, Ruby, or Groovy fan should take a long, hard look at Boo. You will find a whole lot to like.

Using Google search terms "make money using open source", I came up with the following:

-101 Ways to Make Money off Open Source
-How to make money with Open Source Software
-Making an open source living
-eWeek:How to Make Money Off Open Source

I am not intending to be snitty in suggesting that you search Google; there were tons of other seemingly-good resources contained within it, and it might just be a case of different search terms. You might be able to team the information gained there with the advice of people here.

Also, if you can gain access to the class papers from the Boston Embedded Systems conference, particularly those from Bill Gatliff in 2003, there were tons of developers there who lectured on this very thing, citing examples and explaining the ins and outs of open-source licensing. I thought Bill Gatliff did an excellent job, and you may be able to contact him through his website for some resources.

I'm working with systems like this right now. You might have better luck if you search for "workflow" instead of "batch." Googling for "open source" workflow management also brings back a bunch of promising hits. And if you're Java-centric, there's a great page which summarizes all the open source workflow engines available for Java.

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=java+workflow/ Second link down seems to be exactly what you want - a comparison of Work Flow engines written in Java http://www.manageability.org/blog/stuff/workflow_i n_java/view/ Content from link attached inline :-)
# Enhydra Shark Shark is completely based on standards from WfMC and OMG using XPDL as its native workflow definition format. Storage of processes and activities is done using Enhydra DODS.
# Codehaus Werkflow Werkflow is a flexible, extensible process- and state-based workflow engine. It aims to satisfy a myriad of possible workflow scenarios, from enterprise-scale business processes to small-scale user-interaction processes. Using a pluggable and layered architecture, workflows with varying semantics can easily be accomodated.
# OpenSymphony OSWorkflow What makes OSWorkflow different is that it is extremely flexible.
# jBpm jBpm is a flexible, extensible workflow management system. Business processes , expressed in a simple and powerfull language and packaged in process archives, serve as input for the jBpm runtime server. jBpm combines easy development of workflow-applications with excellent enterprise application integration (EAI) capabilities. jBpm includes a web-application and a scheduler. jBpm is a scalable J2EE application.
# wfmOpen WfMOpen is a J2EE based implementation of a workflow facility (workflow engine) as proposed by the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC) and the Object Management Group (OMG). Workflows are specified using WfMC's XML Process Definition Language (XPDL) with some extensions.
# OFBiz Workflow Engine The Open for Business Workflow Engine is based on the WfMC and OMG spec. OFBiz Workflow Engine uses XPDL as its process definition language.
# ObjectWeb Bonita Bonita is a flexible cooperative workflow system, compliant to WfMC specifications. A comprehensive set of integrated graphical tools for performing different kind of actions such as process conception, definition, instanciation, control of processes, and interaction with the users and external applications. 100% browser-based environment with Web Services integration that uses SOAP and XML Data binding technologies in order to encapsulate existing workflow business methods and publish them as a J2EE-based web services. A Third Generation Worflow engine based in the activity anticipation model.
# Bigbross Bossa The engine is very fast and lightweight, uses a very expressive Petri net notation to define workflows, does not requires a RDBMS and is very simple to use and to integrate with java applications. Actually, it was designed to be embedded.
# Taverna The Taverna project aims to provide a language and software tools to facilitate easy use of workflow and distributed compute technology within the eScience community. Taverna is both a workflow enactor and also an editing suite.
# JFolder JFolder (formerly PowerFolder) contains features critical to many applications - including web pages, workflow, security, persistence, email, file management, and data access.
# Open Business Engine Open Business Engine is an open source Java workflow engine which supports the Workflow Management Coalition's (WfMC) workflow specifications, including interface 1, also known as XPDL, interface 2/3 known as WAPI and interface 5 for auditing. OBE provides an environment for executing activities in a controlled, centralized environment. OBE supports both synchronous and asynchronous execution of workflows. The primary OBE implementation is based on J2EE.
# OpenWFE OpenWFE is an open source java workflow engine. It features 3 components, easily scalable : an engine, a worklist and a web interface. Its workflow definition language is inspired of Scheme, a Lisp dialect, though it is expressed in XML.
# Freefluo - Freefluo is a workflow orchestration tool for web serv

this guy wrote an interesting list.

read the 101 reasons
here

Found here: http://101.manageability.org

Clearly .NET is inferior technology compared to Java. What boggles the mind is why these folks spend all their time re-inventing technology that's otherwise second best.

If all their objective was an open source VM that had a nice GUI for linux all they had to do was contribute to Kaffe and add SWT support and be done years ago. But No! They just had to build something that supports a GUI library that requires WINE to work. C'mon give me a break!

It turns out that there are other open source crawlers that also have been written in Java. For a comprehensive listing go here:

Crawlers in Java

Would you be so kind to explain to me exactly how many technologies that .net has that makes it a superset of Java? Maybe you haven't investigated J2EE, J2ME and all the other technologies that are part of the Java platform. Besides, Java has a much larger free software community. Freshmeat, for example, lists 2382 Java projects (that's less than 100 frewer than C++). To be compared to the 46 C# projects.

Want to implement a SOAP web service? Check out GLUE. It allows you to distribute any java object as a SOAP service using only 2 lines of code (one to start the server and one to register the object).

And if you don't want to listen to me, why not read this list. It contains some good stuff.

Why people spend their precious time on a project like Mono with such an unstable (legally) base is beyond me. Why the Linux community seem to embrace .net more than java is even more boggling.