This very much depends on your definition of ‘best’. While your criticisms of the environment are valid, smalltalk is flexible in tangible ways that Java couldn’t match. Java took the OO model of smalltalk and make a bunch compromises that had big negative impacts on the language that are still there today.

Smalltalk was (and still is in some places) successful because of its portability, flexibility, etc. while it hasn’t enjoyed the degree of success as Java, ruby, perl, python, C++, and friends it would be a mistake to call it just a you.

I think it was Kent Beck who described Java as “all the elegance of C++ with all the speed of Smalltalk”?

I would say that was Delphi in the PC world, but yes in UNIX world, several Java vendors were previous Smalltalk shops.