[Gvsig_english] gvSIG - the programme compared to other GIS?

[Wolfgang Qual]

Hi list and developers!
I am quite new to gvSIG and I only made some tests regarding available
functions of this programme. I have the impression that this programme has a
very high potential for former ArcView-users regarding its functionality - 
I already was quite impressed about the speed of the application when opening
large attribute data; also displaying large shapefiles is quite fast.
I would be interested about your experiences regarding performance and
possible limitations of that software (e.g. in the field of geoprocessing
when working with large files. Unfortunately, my testing machine is quite
old&slow - at the moment I do not have another) - are there limitations 
because of the architecture of the application (java runtime environment)? 
What about other java-based open source products - is there a comparison with 
gvSIG possible (regarding performance, but also regarding available 
functionality)? Did someone compare the old ArcView vs. gvSIG?
Personally, I am very curious about this, but it would be also very important 
for my organisation, the Department of Health and Environment of the City of 
Munich, as we are looking for a replacement of our desktop GIS ArcView...
I would really appreciate your opinion! 

Best regards,
Wolfgang