>>52
I think the time spent developing it is a big problem.
That is a problem for using it today but I don't see how it's going to kill it in the end. JavaScript didn't exist when I started programming, yet I enjoy using it today.
Throwing backwards compatibility away
Perl 6 defines a new language, not a new version Perl 5 (which is still being developed, expanded, and getting backported features--if you want a shinier Perl 5 get a new version of Perl 5.) Also, you could make the same argument to some degree about Python 2 vs Python 3.
Not only that, but backwards compatibility
is being maintained. There's a means of loading Perl 5 modules, and the spec says (and has always said) any conforming 6 implementation will also execute unmodified Perl 5 sources.
The "gradual" type system is there to permit optimization/analysis, overloading/constraints and type checking to whatever degree is desired. It's optional, sure, but I reflexively use it as much as I can. A lot of others do too. It's a good thing.
Junctions autothread and will dispatch individually in parallel where appropriate. What you say about them makes it obvious you don't know how they work underneath. I don't think they're very important (I don't blame you for not caring or knowing much about them), but the implementation is impressive.
multiple implementations
Nothing wrong with that. C, JavaScript (the weakness here is different amounts and kinds of conformity--not implementations), Python, every successful CLR/DLR language, and so on all have multiple implementations. The Lisp problem is the same as the JavaScript problem, but it's a slightly different world now. JavaScript is successful anyway. As long as implementations keep to the spec (or people can at least write portable code between them without jumping through flaming hoops) it will work out in the end. CPAN incentivizes conformity among implementations anyway. (One thing Perl taught the world: community as technology.)
>>53
The important part to take away from the Haskell comment is the "but-really." It will look like Haskell if you squint from a distance. If you take a really close look you'll find it's more like Lisp. It's not really like either if you look at it
too hard. Uh... try not to stare?