> Java was also many developers' first introduction to a language runtime with a "fail fast" approach to fault handling. Java wasn't just "fail fast" in some l

> Java was also many developers' first introduction to a language runtime with a "fail fast" approach to fault handling. Java wasn't just "fail fast" in some loose and hard-to-pin-down sense, it was memory safe. This was a killer feature in competing with C++ as the standard 'enterprise' language, and Sun rightly focused on it in their marketing of the language and platform. Edit: And yes, as a sibling comment says, the "batteries included" factor was probably important in making the language popular with developers.