Actually, the idea of a VM is not bad. Look at Microsoft and .NET – they also use the same concept. You compile into a bytecode which is then executed on a virtual machine. They need to run on exactly one OS but they still picked this way of doing things. There are more languages which work this way. Java sucks not because it runs on multiple platforms though but for entirely different reasons – some of which I mentioned above.

Saying Java is good because it works on all Operating Systems is like saying Anal Sex is good because it works on all genders.

:D My point is I dislike java.