You had to choose between python and perl for scripting, so the choice was obvious. However it wasn't considered suitable for any type of complex application at

You had to choose between python and perl for scripting, so the choice was obvious. However it wasn't considered suitable for any type of complex application at the time (no scripting language was). Ruby wan't really on the radar when python was becoming popular. Also python billed itself as a simple teaching language which attracted a lot of non-programmers who were intimidated by C and Java. It just kind of snowballed from there.