I don't really buy the argument that Java is the only thing to be used for high-level corporate web design. PHP is one of the most popular scripting languages on the planet and it has also gained OOP capabilities recently. It is quite easy to pick up and is used by thousands of of companies.

I would only consider using Java for desktop apps - unless a job said otherwise. Having said that, Java would be first first choice for desktop usage either. Even though the JVM enables portability across platforms such as Linux, Windows and Solaris, it makes any apps created in the language slower as the JVM takes up vital memory.

Other multi-platform languages such as C++ are faster because they have no virtual machine. My preferred desktop app language is C# although I will use the most suitable thing for the job.

As for web dev, I would always choose PHP.