Not unlike how Java evolved: Gosling and Joy envisioned something to use for smart appliances and network-aware devices. Its popularity stemmed from the fact

Not unlike how Java evolved: Gosling and Joy envisioned something to use for smart appliances and network-aware devices. Its popularity stemmed from the fact it was far more useful outside of that context in enterprise and client-server development. And thank goodness too, man...did you ever see Jini? What a disaster. Of course, I'm sure some will say the same about Java, but it's hard to argue against the fact it was more useful than originally intended.