First of all, yes, new features alone can make something maintain popularity. Why would that not be the case? Second, the author was using that as an example o

First of all, yes, new features alone can make something maintain popularity. Why would that not be the case? Second, the author was using that as an example of Java showing a pattern of adding syntax improvements, which again might be something that maintains popularity. Finally, from the article: But let's talk about the Java we have today, not the one coming in 6 months. It was just one talking point. Did you even read the article?