I am very fond of the ML syntax, but I think it is the semantics and type system that really matter, so I am very happy to sacrifice syntax in order to make Gleam more widely accessible.
That's very cool, I wouldn't have thought that the trend would swing that way. I suppose it makes sense in a conventional wisdom kind of way.
How long ago was the switch? I'd like to read (code or prose, idc) about your experiences switching the syntaxes out. That's a hard thing to do right, but maybe not so much if it was really early on?
It's superficial, you get past it quickly, but it's the first thing you encounter and that can affect whether people give a language a 'proper' go.
I think the ML people like me are kinda used to not getting their favourite syntax. Alas!