They had to. • The Perl 6 spec was still being argued about (plus I recall Larry had been seriously unwell). • The intention was to create an open VM for all

They had to. • The Perl 6 spec was still being argued about (plus I recall Larry had been seriously unwell). • The intention was to create an open VM for all dynamic languages. • Perl 5, Python, Ruby and Javascript were always targets for Parrot. My frustration was that, instead of putting everything into creating usable Perl 5, Python and Ruby implementations (Javascript was pretty-much browser only at the time) the Parrot team faffed about with toy language after toy language. I may have imagined this as I can't find reference to it online.