> My gut feeling is that it succeeded due to escaping scrutiny.
You keep saying it, but from 2000-2010, what scrutiny did it escape, exactly?
Are you saying when universities dropped Java/C++ for the introductory course and replaced it with Python, they simply threw dice to pick the language?
Are you saying all the Perl programmers who kept saying "Python will never have the power of CPAN" didn't exist?
Are you saying Eric Raymond never wrote an essay on the virtues of Python?
You keep saying it, but from 2000-2010, what scrutiny did it escape, exactly?
Are you saying when universities dropped Java/C++ for the introductory course and replaced it with Python, they simply threw dice to pick the language?
Are you saying all the Perl programmers who kept saying "Python will never have the power of CPAN" didn't exist?
Are you saying Eric Raymond never wrote an essay on the virtues of Python?