I don't care much. The people who don't like the language mostly feel that way because of it's sometimes slightly eccentric syntax. If they feel that, they're never going to go for it, whatever. Let them do their own thing.

Conversely, people who are prepared to put the effort in to get some mastery of the language reap their rewards, So be it. It DOES take some effort to learn, it isn't the easiest to pick up straight away just because it was designed by someone trying to make a very powerful tool, rather than ride on the success of existing syntax (as java did on C(PP)). I can see good and bad in both schools of thought, and I know which is for me.

Look to me like Perl is doing just fine ...