Contrary to his opinons on J2EE in his (excellent) books on J2EE development without EJBs, Rod Johnson give his backing behind development using J2EE technologies at The Server Side Symposium last week.
Johnson recommended to keep an eye on ORM mapping solution’s (Hibernate) influence on the upcoming EJB3.0 spec, and also on the emerging technology of AOP – he favors these as being ‘technologies to watch’ in the coming months. He believe that these pressures on J2EE will help it develop and become stronger in the long run.