A Forrester Research report found that .NET is now more often named the primary development platform by North American companies – 56% of the 322 companies surveyed reported this to be true in their environments. Forrester points to Microsoft’s development tools, notably Visual Studio .Net, as a key driver behind that growth. Of the seven industries looked at by Forrester, five report .NET as the lead development platform, with the public sector reporting the heaviest use at 65%. Two industries, however, rely more on J2EE ? telecom and finance. Smaller firms are more likely to opt for .NET; larger enterprises are nearly evenly split.