I think the majority of programmers are very conservative about language, they use whatever they already know, be it Java, C#, C++, ruby, etc. A minority are m

I think the majority of programmers are very conservative about language, they use whatever they already know, be it Java, C#, C++, ruby, etc. A minority are more fashion-driven - if something seems like the hot new trend they'll jump on it, scoffing at the old-fashioned crap their coworkers are using. Erlang unfortunately is not fashionable, and it's hard to predict or control fashion. A smaller minority are driven by some concept of technical merit. However, once you've strayed from the safety of Java/C#/etc., it seems like you might as well go all the way and get into Haskell, which is pretty widely seen as the most advanced, mind-expanding, powerful, futuristic programming language right now, and for good reason.