Hiya,
Point#1 Do not believe Everything your prof' tells u, at face value mate :-P take it with a pinch of salt....

Yes Microsoft is canning Java, but only because if they wanna survive in the Market they bloody well need too!!! They donna really have an option as far as the net goes...

As far as learning the language goes.. first question WHY are u learning a language?? for the net?? for kicks?? for a credit?? if u're doing it for kicks start with C++ i still believe its the most Kick ASS OOPS language there is...

java is nice if u're a newbie n wanna go the EASY way... But i still believe that if u learn C++ then u pretty much know 2 languages immed... C++ n Java

Java is the Language of the net, n it may very well become the language of the future if it EVER gets fast enough.... so its really a matter of choice based on need...


cheers
Gaurav