Right now, what's the most important for the success and adoption of D?

[Walter Bright]

I'll often get the comment from non-D programmers that the reason they 
don't use D is because D lacks feature X, and X is a requirement for 
their needs. I point out the fact that the programming language they do 
use also lacks feature X. Obviously, X is not the real reason.

The real reason is because D is new and different, and their peers 
aren't using D. They worry about being the sucker that adopts the new 
technology and winds up being embarrassed. They're not early adopters. 
Some have flat out told me they won't consider adopting D until they see 
more projects done by more people in D.

More features won't help. More libraries and more tools help indirectly 
by showing that more people are using D.

What will help a lot in making D seem "real" is to up our presence. This 
means more web pages that mention D, more articles, that talk about 
doing things in D. Magazine articles, like getting one in DDJ, are a BIG 
win here. Getting stuff on Digg, Reddit, and Slashdot help a lot. When 
programmers constantly are seeing "D" in the ordinary course of their 
work, that comfort level will be there, and they'll get on the bandwagon.

As an aside, at the Astoria Seminar http://www.astoriaseminar.com I 
decided not to bring up D because it was a C++ conference and I didn't 
want people to be annoyed thinking I was using it as a platform to sell 
D. But a lot of the people had heard about D, were interested, and asked 
me a lot of questions about it. They were genuinely interested. So I 
think the pump is primed, we just have to always look for opportunities 
to mention D.