> If Rusties want Rust to displace C... simplify your dependency chains. Get a build system that's easily workable without an Internet connection and recent TLS support. Make it easy for beginners to build out Rust infrastructure for OpenVMS on Itanium, Solaris on SPARC, z/OS, MorphOS, GNU/Hurd, and a 20-year-old budget PDA running a custom OS on an SH4 CPU.
C is welcome to that niche IMO. The priority is getting people to stop using C or C++ for regular applications that are exposed to the internet; if Rust can replace those use cases then it'll be job done.
Most of those applications would probably be just fine with a GC language, so the cognitive load of doing things safely in any non-GC language is probably a waste.
Sure, but given that even today people still feel the need to write applications in non-GC languages for some godforsaken reason, it's good that Rust is there for them. Making a new language is easier than educating the developer population, sadly.
Most of them might be fine in a GC language, but most of those GC language apps will bind to C libraries as some point. It’s those underlying components we need to start to replace for truly robust systems.
C is welcome to that niche IMO. The priority is getting people to stop using C or C++ for regular applications that are exposed to the internet; if Rust can replace those use cases then it'll be job done.