JS won because it was the only thing that every browser supported from the very beginning, and the various differences in implementation (of which there were ma

JS won because it was the only thing that every browser supported from the very beginning, and the various differences in implementation (of which there were many) were eventually shimmable by jQuery and other AJAX frameworks. Everything else was either some alternative only supported by one of the vendors (VBScript, Dart), or a full-blown plugin that had a different model of interaction with the webpage (Java, Shockwave, Flash, Silverlight). It's pretty much the textbook instance of a compromise between vendors of competing interests to further the common web. Despite this, it took a really, really long time -- almost ten years -- for JS to receive additional browser-implemented APIs that brought that platform's capability to what we know today and comparable to that of what we had with plugins -- and still, not every vendor supports every spec yet, making this "open web" no less subject to vendor pressures, despite being 'open' and 'neutral' [1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12259827#12259940 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12259827#12259940