It has very little to do with Python itself. Python won because GvR ran an extremely tight ship. And there were many extremely talented core developers that helped make Python a polished product. The development team made all the right decisions, except for rejecting PEP 355 which was a big mistake. The batteries included approach helped grow the ecosystem. Developers wrote third party libraries in the hopes of them eventually, someday be incorporated into Python's standard library. Python also came in an msi installer and made the Windows experience pleasant, unlike Ruby and Perl which iirc were painful to get up and running.