I'm not sure what you are going on about here. Around the time Kotlin launched, Java was on version 8 and most of the Android world was still stuck with version 6 and missing out on quite a bit of nice stuff that came with newer versions. The Oracle dispute was specifically about Google's implementation of Java on top of Apache Harmony (developed by IBM orginally) which was an alternative implementation of the Java standard library. Since the dispute was resolved they transitioned to basing their libraries on OpenJDK and these days are a bit more up to date.
Anyway, Kotlin came along as that was still in the courts. Google understandably wasn't putting a lot of effort in updating the compiler or the core Java libraries. With Kotlin, developers gained access to a lot of modern language features.
So, not bonkers but well documented history. If you want to try your compose apps on IOS, you can now. It's currently in Alpha release. Zero java libraries running on that platform. All Kotlin multi-platform backed by IOS native.
As for Kotlin getting endorsed by Google. That wasn't management doing anything other than responding to a lot of Android developers enthusiastically adopting Kotlin long before it was even releases properly and getting some good results. App development is super competitive and developers aren't afraid to try out new stuff if it gives them an edge. And Kotlin did exactly that.
Between that and the Oracle dispute, it was a logical move for Google to make it official. In the same way Jetbrains move to push kotlin multiplatform and compose multiplatform originated outside of Google. And is now getting endorsed by Google as well. I guess the compose team and the flutter team are in different parts of the org chart.
Yet in 2024, the anti-Java speech with Java 8 samples continues, and they only updated ART to Java 17 LTS, because Android was losing out on Modern Java ecosystem.
While using Android Studio, Gradle, Android SDK, Kotlin compiler, D8, R8, all running on top of Java Virtual Machine, using Java libraries from Maven Central.
Anyway, Kotlin came along as that was still in the courts. Google understandably wasn't putting a lot of effort in updating the compiler or the core Java libraries. With Kotlin, developers gained access to a lot of modern language features.
So, not bonkers but well documented history. If you want to try your compose apps on IOS, you can now. It's currently in Alpha release. Zero java libraries running on that platform. All Kotlin multi-platform backed by IOS native.
As for Kotlin getting endorsed by Google. That wasn't management doing anything other than responding to a lot of Android developers enthusiastically adopting Kotlin long before it was even releases properly and getting some good results. App development is super competitive and developers aren't afraid to try out new stuff if it gives them an edge. And Kotlin did exactly that.
Between that and the Oracle dispute, it was a logical move for Google to make it official. In the same way Jetbrains move to push kotlin multiplatform and compose multiplatform originated outside of Google. And is now getting endorsed by Google as well. I guess the compose team and the flutter team are in different parts of the org chart.