[throw20102010]

Python is used more than Mathematica, but you never read a blog by Guido van Rossum claiming that he changed the world. It's the messiah complex that people find off-putting, not that he has put together a good product.

Mathematica/Wolfram Language is a perfectly fine programming language. It has an amazing standard library. It's definitely worth the money (if you're working in a field that benefits from it). But that's it. Don't call it a computational language. It isn't a new way of thinking. It isn't revolutionary, there is literally nothing in Mathematica that can't be done in another language just as easily (except the CAS engine is world leading). But somehow these mundane blog posts by Stephen Wolfram make it to the front page of HN every few months, so someone must be upvoting them.

So maybe his hype machine is working as intended- he is in charge of a successful company and I'm hiding anonymously behind a keyboard. So what if a few people don't like his attitude, he's more successful than most of us.