Speculation: 1) The field is pretty crowded. There's a lot of languages competing for attention. It takes time to learn. Which ones should I spend time on? 2)

Speculation: 1) The field is pretty crowded. There's a lot of languages competing for attention. It takes time to learn. Which ones should I spend time on? 2) Momentum. Scripty siblings Python & Ruby & JS & even PHP have active communities with a lot going for them. 3) Baggage. Some of the conventional wisdom about Perl 5 is pretty iffy, but it's well established conventional wisdom, dammit! In fact, you'll almost certainly see it recapitulated in this thread. Most arguments to the contrary seem to be slow to make a real dent in what Everybody Knows™ about Perl. The fact that Perl 6 is a different language will probably be equally slow. People will repeat the comforting mantra that Ruby is the new Perl. Order will be reinforced. 4) Blub-ish paradoxes. Perl 6 is doing some weird and different stuff. Is it hyper-useful weird and different stuff? Will I know until I learn to use it? 5) Not a big win in terms of market value yet.