Why is D unpopular?

[arco]

On Tuesday, 2 November 2021 at 17:27:25 UTC, Dr Machine Code 
wrote:
> It got [asked on 
> reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/d_language/comments/q74bzr/why_is_d_unpopular/) sub but for those that aren't active too, I'd like you opinions. Please don't get me wrong, I also love D, I've used it everywhere I can and I'd say it's my favourite language (yes I have one...) but I'm as as the reddit's OP, trying to understand why it's unpopular. Rust and Go seeming to be getting more and more users. I think it's due to large ecosystem and the big corporations with deep pockets that pushes them. But I'd like to know you all opinions

I think this argument has it backwards. The big corporations with 
deep pockets are a consequence of the success, not the cause. Big 
corporations like Microsoft, Google, Facebook etc only really 
become interested in Rust in 2019. Until then it was a small 
enthusiast's language with the occasional in-house project here 
and there, not unlike D.

In fact I find that the geneses of D and Rust are remarkably 
similar: both were born in a company, out of frustration with C++ 
and the belief that their creators could design something better. 
Even the problems of C++ that D and Rust wanted to fix overlap to 
a large degree: better memory management, better type system, 
better encapsulation, getting rid of the preprocessor...

Of course from there their respective routes were very different. 
Rust succeeded in convincing the big corps to fund it and adopt 
it. But if we are debating why D didn't, the question is then 
what made Rust different. I tried to expose what I believe are 
the reasons.