I think it speaks to the fact that Rust's original/ideal usecase (writing a web browser) is slightly higher-level than actual kernel-level OS work (just like C+

I think it speaks to the fact that Rust's original/ideal usecase (writing a web browser) is slightly higher-level than actual kernel-level OS work (just like C++'s is). It's expanded into kernel territory, and done a good job of it, but there are places like this where a choice was made that creates some dissonance If you're writing a high-performance userspace application, there's a good chance you don't want to deal with handling an error in every single place where your code allocates. I think Rust made the right choice, even though it means some growing pains as it starts being used in kernels