esocid's Journal: Alternatives To Java As a Cross-Platform Language

I have used, not programmed, Java since it has been in major public use I guess, and it has spurned a hatred for it deep within that place where a soul would normally reside. Whether it is from web-embedded, to a Java based program I have looked at it with disdain. From my perspective it is memory hogging, slow, and extremely bulky (overly used buttons, menus, boxes, load times). The thing that spurred this journal was today's use of an open source Java based program for evolutionary analyses and phylogenetics. I installed and waited for it to load...load...load modules, and went through the little tour that showed its uses. I'm not sure if it is inherent to the language or the people programming in Java, but there are always so many buttons or menus to manipulate something. Isn't there something simpler that will do the same job? I'm not trying to incite a flamewar here, just some discussion and input from those who know more about programming than I do. Why is this the case with Java, and what are the alternatives to using it as a cross-platform language, like Perl or Python?