I didn't name JS, Netscape management and marketing did the trademark deal with Sun to base its name on Java, which was truly hyped and heralded.

(Also, Scheme-Self, not Scheme-Smalltalk.)

There absolutely was massive Java hype.

Twenty-five years ago

Hype is not reason why "a major Silicon Valley company that's migrating their backend to it".

No, but I think it's a big contributor to the network effect advantage Java has.

I'm not bashing the language - it certainly has its defenders. Some people regard simplicity as a virtue (although I'd question how simple Java is nowadays). But I think even ardent Java fans will concede, Java has some deficiencies as a language. The main reason people use Java, is that people know Java. And the main reason they know Java, is because it is used.

It takes a long time to kill a network effect.

People don't like to see their favorite languages bashed. It's completely understandable.

I suppose there are many Java enthusiasts on here.

I mean, Java is not a liked language by any metrics, so I guess fans (myself included) are more than used to bashing. That’s why I don’t think that marketing helped the language become as great as it is. Sure, it had a part, but if something would have been substantially better it could have taken over a long time since java is not hypes at all anymore.

> but if something would have been substantially better it could have taken over a long time

I don't think that is true. Windows is still around.