Choice of Java Virtual Machine

[tskuzzy]

I've always used the Sun JVM, but I recall reading about a benchmark that showed that the Sun JVM is greatly outperformed by some other JVMs. I cannot seem to find that benchmark anymore, so I would like to ask you guys

What are some of the better JVMs out there? I'm just a normal (or as normal as a Gentoo user can be) Linux user who does some software development; nothing server related.

While I'm at it, are there better Java compilers aside from the one provided in the Sun JDK?

[node_one]

I would like to know too. I have been using (more like installing) Sun JVM because I have not had the time to read more about all the alternatives. Please note what works or does not work with Eclipse.