Java is a tool too. But the years and years of people inflicting bad Java desktop UIs on the world might have been avoided if we had been more critical of it rather than going with what's cool and hip and new.
I think in a few years time, we'll look back on the current trend of client-side-all-the-things just as we now look back at Flash intro pages, pop-up ads and all that shit.
Nobody has ever liked the swing GUI's, everyone with a little bit of taste disliked it, were constantly looking to change their theme and it was really aweful for a developer to create a decent user interface with.
I think in a few years time, we'll look back on the current trend of client-side-all-the-things just as we now look back at Flash intro pages, pop-up ads and all that shit.