It is fair to like Rust, but there is nonetheless an influx of web developers who already know JavaScript and TypeScript moving to AssemblyScript to (finally) experience what Wasm is all about. They don't want to move to other languages. I believe their experience should be highly valued, and as optimal as possible.

This influx is the reason why AssemblyScript is now in the top three WebAssembly languages next to C++ and Rust (https://blog.scottlogic.com/2021/06/21/state-of-wasm.html) and should not be taken lightly.

There is a huge opportunity here to build an optimal foundation for these incoming developers, so that they won't be let down.

The influx has only just begun.

Ideally though, interface types would give languages options: the ability to choose which format their boundary will use. Obviously a JS host and a language like AssemblyScript would align on WTF-16, while a Rust Wasm module running on a Rust-powered Wasm runtime like wasmtime could optimally choose UTF-8.

I'm hoping things will be designed with flexibility in mind for this upcoming most-generic runtime feature.

Yea, my first contact with wasm was through AS but I switched to rust soon after, it just doesn't have the same momentum.

I think you're mistaken there: AssemblyScript is much newer, it's momentum is only just getting started. AssemblyScript is one of the top three most desired languages for WebAssembly now: https://blog.scottlogic.com/2021/06/21/state-of-wasm.html

In the past year it has gained numerous libraries and bindings, including from Surma from Google. Stay tuned...