Is .NET 5.0 and C# 9 a "threat" to D?

[Gregor Mückl]

On Thursday, 12 November 2020 at 21:45:16 UTC, rinfz wrote:
> On Thursday, 12 November 2020 at 18:32:59 UTC, 12345swordy 
> wrote:
>> D needs to focus on its consumers instead of worrying other 
>> language development.
>
> It's been said before and it'll be said again but it'd be nice 
> to have more visible and more frequent (i.e. regular) 
> communication about language direction and developments from 
> the core maintainers. I feel like Atila is even less visible 
> than Andrei was when everyone was complaining about this before.

A heads down working attitude is very commendable, but - watching 
from the sidelines, mind you - I get the impression that D could 
profit from some more aggressive outreach. That means not just 
talking to the existing community, but also more active advocacy. 
Reaching out to other communities and organizations, pointing out 
that D exists, listening to them to figure out their needs, 
pointing out what it is capable of doing for them etc... To be 
blunt: this part is sales, but different.

It takes a certain kind of character to do this. Technically 
minded people often tend to dislike doing that, in my 
experience*. But let's be honest, we all like to listen once 
someone has started a pitch in a way that made us genuinely 
curious about some aspect of the product.

I wonder now what would happen if the D Foundation could actually 
hire a person who can present such a pitch convincingly, 
especially to the corporate world.