The problem was mostly Java, not the idea. Java enforced a rigid (static) disjoint exception hierarchy (necessitating the boilerplate wrapping), no error infer

The problem was mostly Java, not the idea. Java enforced a rigid (static) disjoint exception hierarchy (necessitating the boilerplate wrapping), no error inference, inability to parametrize over thrown exceptions etc. etc. Basically fired all the language design footguns due to lack of experience and foresight (understandable at that point in history). I'm sure this can be done with an actually decent design, and Rust developers do seem to be innovating in this space with the various error handling crates.