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An important difference is that Python 3.0 arrived soon, while it took ages for a complete Perl 6 release to be available. That is, if you didn't want to learn or use Python 2.x because it was soon going to be obsolete, you already had a working alternative; but if you didn't want to learn or use Perl 5.x because it was soon going to be obsolete, for a significant amount of time Perl 6 wasn't an option.

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> it took ages for a complete Perl 6 release to be available.

And unfortunately, the brilliant minds that worked on Perl 6 spent so much time rewriting the compiler tool chain and basically treating just that part as a research project, that it was incredibly difficult to actually contribute and push the project forward. Couple that with a spec that never seemed finished and a community that tore itself apart because of assholes, and it was a perfect storm to remove Perl from prominence.

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