[urbannomad]

From what I know, python is usually the first language that newbies get pointed to when they ask where to start. It's easy to read, understand, and has a ton of libraries.

Plus python is older, and I think gained more popularity than ruby (before rails came along).

[maxerickson]

They are about the same age, Python was more popular in the US/Europe prior to Rails catching on (which I guess contributes to it still being more used outside of web dev).