Disagree about C#/.NET "doing better" than Java (by which I think you mean more widely deployed). Java is nearly ubiquitous in big corps from Cisco to LinkedIn and everything in between. On the desktop, C# obvious wins, however.
But your point still stands: MS went from a standing start to a credible competitor, overcoming their early embrace-and-extinguish failures like Visual J++.
But your point still stands: MS went from a standing start to a credible competitor, overcoming their early embrace-and-extinguish failures like Visual J++.