[eggsnbacon1]

Kotlin allows Google to hang out in Java 8 forever. If they want new features they can just add them at the Kotlin layer. Insulates them from OpenJDK and any changes Oracle wants to make. All great opportunities to fragment the Java ecosystem

[monocasa]

OpenJDK was always fine for them to pull in, being GPLed. They got in trouble because they based their class library on Apache Harmony originally, and Sun pulled the TCK rug out from under Harmony.

[t-writescode]

Kotlin is written by JetBrains.