The big difference is Go has Google+Pike pushing it and might actually get widely adopted. Getting some improvement is not a bad thing.

I don't think it is just that. There is also a difference in culture and tradition. Roughly, Go fits more in the C and Python tradition, D and Rust fit more in the C++ and Haskell tradition. Simplicity versus formal correctness.

I think the Python/C pond is just larger than the C++/Haskell pond.

Go's search for simplicity is seen as a solution looking for a problem in the language design communities.

But most programmers are not in language design communities. There is a big potential for a 'safer C' or a 'faster Python'. Yes, that's a simplification, but also how people will see Go.

Why throw away Python's capabilities to execute it faster? Just make use of PyPy.

There are several reasons I'm interested in D and more so Rust, but they're very different than Go.

See how this never ends?

And yes, I have. Hence my comment.

Er, you weren't the GP, sorry, but my point remains, though somewhat directed a cjensen.