Popular and successful are not the same thing. I could go through and dispute his points one by one in traditional internet style but to do so would be to miss

Popular and successful are not the same thing. I could go through and dispute his points one by one in traditional internet style but to do so would be to miss the fundamental difference in viewpoint. A piece of art can be considered aesthetically unsuccessful while still being a massive commercial hit. The liberal hacker will generally consider Java (if not the JVM) a failure. The conservative software developer will generally consider Java (and the JVM) massively successful. See Yegge on the liberal/conservative distinction: https://plus.google.com/110981030061712822816/posts/KaSKeg4vQtz https://plus.google.com/110981030061712822816/posts/KaSKeg4v... So if PG was considering the market success of this "stinker" then no, his prediction was clearly a failure. But if you consider the aesthetic success? Well, Java certainly isn't cool in certain circles. Personally I like Java and consider it successful - but I don't think PG's article is prima facie a prophetic failure.