So why is it unsuccessful? Sure inside the browser its a piece of crap, but in terms of usage and the number of OSes and embedded processors it runs on, its surpassed probably only by C.
In 2001 Java had much broader ambitions than the (large) niches it has found itself in. Java's zeitgeist definition of success back then was creating a "anything and a JVM running Java" software monoculture even more extensive than C's.
