I cannot see any argument for using any development platform simply on the grounds of developer availability as anything other than ludicrous.

I'm not arguing that this is uncommon; I recognize that the well-marketed platforms do seem to prevail, especially when received by the less-than-adept decision-maker, [who is] scared to do anything else but take the bait and proceed down the path where the software vendor can recognize the greatest gain in terms of licensing fees per user or per seat, and in developer training and (re-)certification programs.

However, is it really in the ultimate best interest of business to step down to the lowest common denominator with regards to technology, merely to obtain the greater number of new low-paid job candidates?

Where are real metrics, such as "number of input lines processed per second"?