I’m not a Rust user. I have no particular nag in this race. What I do understand, or at least am start to learn, is the difference between a Technology and a Product, and between a Product and Success.
So once again: What is Vale’s USP†? Because it isn’t on their frontpage; which it would be had they thought to ask that question of themselves.
--
TL;DR: Goddamn it, all you noobs, but learn How To Sell already. Some of us are just too damned old and tired to want to hold your diapers till you learn to grow up. Try making our lives a bit easier for once; not just to benefit us but your own products as well.
.
(† And if you don’t even know what “USP” means, well there you are. As someone who has already tried to bring truly groundbreaking new tech to market and flubbed it, and is just about to roll up sleeves and try, try again, I’m not asking these questions just to be obtuse but to be helpful. However, if you’d rather just insult than ever amount to squat then by all means carry on.)
I don't know what Vale's "USP" is, and I think you're right to point out that it doesn't really sell itself on its front page. But you're being a massive dick about the marketing of a language which is clearly a work-in-progress, and hasn't even hit v0.1. You know you can give advice and be nice about it, right?
Why? Will the market be any nicer to them? They’ve failed to make their case as to why anyone should care that Vale exists; never mind actually differentiate it from the current swathe of robust, established Rust-style languages already in full production use and battling each other for the market’s next 20 years of attention. And they’ve barely reached v0.1, and expect to make a difference when make their grande entrance into that bullpen? Who’s fooling who here?
Look, if they just want to be another D then by all means have at it. It’s great that they have a personal hobby, but at least have the good grace to put up a notice saying they’re making this thing to please nobody but themselves. That way anyone else looking at it knows not to invest their own time into a toy project that doesn’t even take itself seriously, never mind have the chops to make the rest of the world believe in it too.
Oh, and by the way, I’ve said nothing about Vale that I’ve not said of my own projects… right before I’ve pulled the plug on them for failing to hit their overall objectives. And the best of that work’s been technically excellent, with sitting users royally pissed that I’ve just chucked their investments on the scrapheap along with my own. But I’m a realist; and it’s better to pull the trigger now and move on ASAP to the next thing, than drag out a slow but inevitable death and then have to junk an even larger investment further down the line. See also: sunk cost fallacy.
You want to ask other people to believe and invest in you? You’d damn well better bring more than just a tick list of features and your delicate feels. Else you’re just messing them around for your own personal ego.
/fin
--
TL;DR: When someone offers you difficult questions and brutal honesy, take it and ask for more, ’cos that’s the best gift they can offer. But if all you want is a pat on the head, then go ask your mom as I’m sure she thinks everything you do is wonderful.
I think you are severely overestimating the negative repercussions of "too many pet projects" existing in the world. If anyone gets left in the cold because they depended on a project that a maintainer gave up on, then that's a valuable lesson that needs to be learned early in one's career.
I argue that, for most small projects, the net educational value of bringing an idea to fruition in public is far greater than any negative externality that such a project imposes. Imagine a world where every side project by a novice engineer is ruthlessly speared to the point of abandonment. I'm sure your counter-argument is that "trial by fire" is the most effective means of growth. You probably believe that forcing people to give up leads them to consider bigger and better things. This is, by far, not the case. Most people give up, and never come back. You are focusing far too much on the immediate value of the project, and completely dismissing its value as a means of creating a motivated, learned individual who can potentially make huge contributions in the future.
Anyway, if your most salient point is "the author should be more explicit about a support plan", then I don't disagree. But man, you could have presented it in a much more accessible and succinct way. If you really care about people taking your advice to heart, you have to be more kind.
So once again: What is Vale’s USP†? Because it isn’t on their frontpage; which it would be had they thought to ask that question of themselves.
--
TL;DR: Goddamn it, all you noobs, but learn How To Sell already. Some of us are just too damned old and tired to want to hold your diapers till you learn to grow up. Try making our lives a bit easier for once; not just to benefit us but your own products as well.
.
(† And if you don’t even know what “USP” means, well there you are. As someone who has already tried to bring truly groundbreaking new tech to market and flubbed it, and is just about to roll up sleeves and try, try again, I’m not asking these questions just to be obtuse but to be helpful. However, if you’d rather just insult than ever amount to squat then by all means carry on.)