Take the D language, it's basically a poor man's Java, with a shoddy garbage collector and aspirations at being C/C++... Is that the work of heroes or the misguided?
Even if D never catches on, folks will learn from what they've done. And the folks who did it, will likely be able to get jobs in the field. I doubt the effort is truly wasted.
Wait, are you saying GPs description of D doesn't fit Go at least as well?
It's even rarer to answer a question that no one has yet asked. Then you are a revolutionary.
Like, just about the only thing D has in common with Java is their shared C syntactic heritage, and an object model with single inheritance. But that also describes numerous other languages.
Precisely both, since no one agrees. At least money can be used as a fitness function sometimes, with games and not with enterprise. The idea is that if D were that much better people would make more money by choosing it over Java.