Trying to figure out how much technical merit vs. guerilla marketing hides behind a project's decision to use Rust is probably an impossible task. With Rust the two are intertwined, the language and the community have a certain militant attitude associated with them.
Looking at the complexity of Rust versus C and the very limited benefits one would get out of adding a few drops of memory safety into a sea of C, one has to conclude that technical merit alone does not explain this decision.
In any case, I don't think Linus will write another language rant after he had an epiphany about his "unprofessional" attitude. And if there's enough corporate support combined with some grassroots support, he's probably figured out that he'd lose that battle even if he were nice about it.
Looking at the complexity of Rust versus C and the very limited benefits one would get out of adding a few drops of memory safety into a sea of C, one has to conclude that technical merit alone does not explain this decision.
In any case, I don't think Linus will write another language rant after he had an epiphany about his "unprofessional" attitude. And if there's enough corporate support combined with some grassroots support, he's probably figured out that he'd lose that battle even if he were nice about it.