Reasons and advantages for upgrading to Java 6 for a non-technical decider (at the client)

Question

I\'d like to upgrade from Java 5 to Java 6. We all know about the technical advantages and benefits, but:

I have the problem that a major client refuses to upgrade f

Answer 1

We've had this problem with a client last year and we stood firm and said that future development (against Java 1.4 as it happens) would at a minimum be significantly more expensive in the future and as time went on we it may no longer even be possible with us. It was a risk but we felt it was worth it as it allowed us to greatly reduce our development costs. Obviously we weren't as blunt as the opening line makes out. We showed the client all the reasons why it would get progessively more expensive to stay as they were.