> I wonder how many Rust users really want linear types and borrow checking, instead of the other stuff Rust brings to the table: modern language design, large and friendly community, nice type system, native compilation, good package ecosystem.

I think there are probably more users that would love this but they are not users of the language to begin with. The community that actually forms around Rust is the type of community that does not want GCs, wants the borrow checker and the constraints that form the language.