First look at this inteview with Robert Cailliau, codeveloper of the www with Tim Berners Lee (I didn't know that).
http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/30/interview-robert-cailliau/

After complaining about javascript he gives an endorsement to RunRev (after minute 8). So I went to look at it and it looks like many of us here might like it as a development platform.

Overview:
http://www.runrev.com/products/the-rev-platform/overview/

A demo:
http://revmedia.runrev.com/templates/revmedia/video.php?id=7

The pluses: single, well defined, easy to learn, multiplatform language for client, server, and applets.

Frankly this guy's recommendation and the demo were enough to make me want to give it a try.

Alex