What an amazing summary. Puts to words what I was thinking but couldn't quite describe...
Wouldn't a language designed for current language users not bring much new to the table and mostly focus on familiarity and interop with existing la.guages?
When you want to make a mainstream language you will have better luck by focusing on bringing value to the users of the language over focusing on creating something novel.
But isn't the point here that the largest value is in a novel space requiring novel solutions?
This is sadly the problem with most new languages.