Yes, but the Python eco-system didn't remain standing in one place either. Lots more libraries, more stable and feature-full releases, and great support for bindings for well known libraries/frameworks/APIs all across the board, as Python has clearly emerged as the favorite hacker language for general purpose programming.
I wish. As mainstream as it got, it's way less deployed than java (which is used for literally everything, including mobile development), PHP, C/C++, Perl and even Ruby. It's starting to be fairly ubiquitous, thanks to hacks like jython and ironpython, but it's nowhere near being considered the "clear favourite" for anything.
Each of PHP, Perl and Ruby has their niche(s), but excluding those Python is far more popular. And the comparison with Java/C is irrelevant here since this is a different domain of languages (dynamic) we're talking about here.
You didn't say "the favorite hacker dynamic language" though :)
I'm a huge Python fan, but I'm also a realist: the Python ecosystem (in terms of vendors, products, customers and professionals involved, as well as libraries and tools) is nowhere near the mainstream Java/C++/whatever-Microsoft-is-pushing-this-year. Python is not the language of choice on any mobile platform, for example; it barely registers in the humongous "enterprise" space; SDKs for most hardware devices (or anything else, really) will usually list Python as the third or fourth choice, if at all. It's doing reasonably well in scripting, automation, Linux administration, 3D and web, but that's a far cry from being a clear favorite for "general-purpose programming".
I love Python, and have noticed that its popularity is trending upwards, but I'm hesitant to upvote any thread that begins an assertion with "clearly".
