C# succeeded based on the strength of Visual Studio. Sure, the language being nicely designed and having some code translation tools helped people switch from

C# succeeded based on the strength of Visual Studio. Sure, the language being nicely designed and having some code translation tools helped people switch from VB. But C# being the “best supported” language in Visual Studio. The productivity gains for developers were too real to ignore, managers saw it, and bought into the Visual Studio ecosystem en masse.