I really don't understand this point of view. LLVM is really cool, but its not revolutionary. It, like most (all?) other modern compilers uses an IR. GCC - the obvious comparison - has gone through at least two over the years. The original 1987 release had one. Promoting IR as an interop layer isn't new either (1992: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.41.1...). The JVM+CLR were both around by the time LLVM came to be too; CLR was supposed to be multi-language from the start. Modern GCC's IR layers were around not much later.
At the time apple bet on LLVM, it wasn't nearly as polished as it is now: they didn't pick it because it was great, but because of the liberal licensing (just like khtml, for that matter).
That's not to denigrate LLVM - clean, modern code that's easy to use is wonderful - but that doesn't make it a wonder. If I had to guess, I bet it's like 99% of other projects: lots of work, copying good ideas liberally from several sources, and solving the right problem at the right time.
At the time apple bet on LLVM, it wasn't nearly as polished as it is now: they didn't pick it because it was great, but because of the liberal licensing (just like khtml, for that matter).
That's not to denigrate LLVM - clean, modern code that's easy to use is wonderful - but that doesn't make it a wonder. If I had to guess, I bet it's like 99% of other projects: lots of work, copying good ideas liberally from several sources, and solving the right problem at the right time.