I don't know, what does a guy have to do to get a language accepted these days. Integrate it with one of the most popular platforms, base the syntax on the most popular syntax, make the type system sound and expressive at the same time... and then it's too complicated. Or too hard for the average developer. Really? It seems to me that scala can be seen as an extended version of java. Though it extends pretty far, sure.

I've used scala on and off for 5 years or so. It seems to me to be a very practical and flexible language. There are things that I don't like, but compared to the number of things I don't like about every other language I use, scala does ok.

And I kinda wonder about the too hard for the average developer thing anyway. Didn't the average developer use to program C++? Despite efforts to the contrary, I still program C++, and compared to that, scala's a stroll on a spring day.