But IBM wasn't (always) the best, they were just safe bets. Until the world started changing and they weren't.
.Net and Java have always been good enough. Even today they're good enough for many, many problems.
I probably would not reach for .Net and Java if performance literally mattered.
There are many tiers for performance mattering. It is quite possible, and common, for Python to be too slow while .Net is fast enough.
Now that I think about it, given this is no longer true, at some point it must have been the case that people started getting fired for buying IBM.
But IBM wasn't (always) the best, they were just safe bets. Until the world started changing and they weren't.
.Net and Java have always been good enough. Even today they're good enough for many, many problems.
I probably would not reach for .Net and Java if performance literally mattered.