The -server (as opposed to the -client default) VM flag puts the VM in
"server mode". This roughly means it'll prioritize performance over startup
times and memory consumption. I've never ran into a situation where this
flag actually slows anything down once the application is properly started
up (which, like i said, takes longer). It will definately cause a bigger
memory load as it'll be more aggressive with inlining and other JIT-related
tricks. In short, -server flag almost always improves performance at the
cost of hardware resources and boot time.

Remon