There's a lot happening with it ... I think it's main advantage is that it completely seamlessly integrates with java and inherits it's basic syntax from there

There's a lot happening with it ... I think it's main advantage is that it completely seamlessly integrates with java and inherits it's basic syntax from there, so anyone familiar with java or with existing stuff in java (and that's a lot of people) can get a flying start. Groovy on Grails is where the main action is - it's basically a rails clone, but built on a standard java stack so if you need it you can always peel back the covers and access it. I too initially thought of it as a dead end - why choose a language that only runs on the JVM when you can choose a language that runs natively as well? But once I started using it I really liked it, and the integration with java is really superb (much more seamless than Jython, JRuby etc.). So it kind of stuck. (I use Django as well, but not as much).