Yes, that is true. But the only way to get that data is to do it. This work is one part of doing that. Someone has to be first :) (There are of course a ton of kernel-level things in Rust that don't pass the "non-experimental" bar for various people. As always, depends on exactly what you mean.)

> Any data about that, I wonder?

Possibly one of the only things harder to measure than productivity is ease of learning, haha! I had programmed in C for decades before Rust even existed. We do have a lot of people who say that they think Rust was easier to learn for them than C was. And of course many who believe the opposite. Not sure anything is conclusive in any direction. For example, it's quite possible that some people find C easier, and some people find Rust easier, and there will never be a clear winner.

Time will tell.