I mean, maybe - but there's a lot of examples of things being as popular as they are because google did them - gRPC, Protobuf, Kubernetes, Chromium.

None of these things were technically bankrupt (including Go), but their adoption curve would not have been what they have been without Googles name on it.

There's likely other OSS that's technically better, but did not have the network effects google-backed software had from day 1.

Go almost certainly would not have been as successful Without googles brand. But also, without its funding. Google has poured tens of millions of dollars in to go. all of the good qualities of go are due to its incredible funding, whether that’s tooling or the fact that three or four extremely experienced engineers were given years of time to design and implement it.

Yes but also think about it? In 2012 and even now, which language would you use to replace Go.

Assuredly not C++, nor Rust... No javascript, swift has become more complex apparently, not haskell... Not C... OCaml? No it has a weird syntax, French people and wanting to be different... Etc...

So no, Go has genuinely appreciable qualities that are not found anywhere else :o)

It does feel like mostly google backing (other aspects are important as well). Imagine if google would be behind ie. Crystal - you'd see it everywhere.