[estava]

The way that the Java platform evolved very slowly just seems rather unlikely nowadays. Sun didn't allow for Java extensions that made it too platform dependent. To this day Java's platform independence is perhaps its greatest legacy, since platforms have changed a lot and the Java code can still be used even for the latest hardware.

But the idea of a proprietary platform is just exotic nowadays. I doubt it that when they started the Java project that they imagined it that most of it would be free and Free. Everyone wants software to be a commodity. I don't know how they would fund a similar project knowing that it would compete against very much free and Free solid alternatives.

Also, browser plugins are dead. So something like Java applets would hardly take foot.

Like others have said, one of the big selling points for Java was Windows development. The interfaces sucked. But the need was there. Once Microsoft came up with .NET that profitable market was challenged.

A lot of Java alternatives nowadays can go a long way from just hosting web services on Linux. So Java's selling point of supporting many different platforms would not have been as interesting. Also, Apple restricts JIT on iOS, further compromising alternative platforms on that platform so even if a new Java wanted to support iOS it would have to settle for less.

Settling for less was in fact one of Java's goals. It helped it with platform independence. But it didn't make many platform dependent developers too happy either. :-)