"Steam Engine" isn't what I'd call the JVM; it's still a remarkable piece of software driving hundreds of thousands business apps with a strong focus on long-te

"Steam Engine" isn't what I'd call the JVM; it's still a remarkable piece of software driving hundreds of thousands business apps with a strong focus on long-term maintenance, excellent mindshare, and really very good performance for what it does (though in somewhat of a stasis with Java9+ deprecation, and Spring-centric development). However, I get what you mean: the JVM was originally intended as a portable runtime for set-top boxes at a time when there were many ISAs (MIPS, PPC, etc.) around, and not just x86 and ARM like today. I believe Java is still a mandatory part of BlueRay disc players. It was also at one time a candidate for running in the browser (also reflected in the Java/JavaScript naming). Incidentally, Java was rejected in the browser by browser vendors, and JavaScript became "more like Java" instead, and has followed a similar path from being a browser language to being used also on the server-side (something that Netscape started already in 1996 or so). Edit: also I want to mention that Java was IMO the single one tech that saved the scene from being an Microsoft-only world, and also significantly paved the way for today's Linux dominance on the server-side; Java was picked by many devs because it helped to keep open the door for migrating to Solaris or Linux in an increasingly MS-dominated landscape in mid 90's