That is certainly true but I wonder if this effect is exaggerated by the methodology of this study.
If they simply count existing lines of code/SO questions and none of those ever get deleted, then inertia is bound to increase.
The more old lines of code/questions there are, the longer it takes for any new language to rise in the rankings, even if the new language is used for all new code.
But I don't know enough about the methodology of this study. Maybe they are doing something against this statistical incumbency effect.
If they simply count existing lines of code/SO questions and none of those ever get deleted, then inertia is bound to increase.
The more old lines of code/questions there are, the longer it takes for any new language to rise in the rankings, even if the new language is used for all new code.
But I don't know enough about the methodology of this study. Maybe they are doing something against this statistical incumbency effect.