Uh, C++ was huge in the mid-90s. Nearly all your Windows desktop software is in C++ - as were a lot of Web1.0 sites, before they were rewritten in Java.
Let me rephrase then, Java saw mass adoption from unskilled programmers similar to VB. C++ has always been big among skilled programmers, but skilled programmers are not the masses. Compare C++ numbers to Visual Basics numbers and then tell me C++ had mass adoption. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.
