> On the one hand they need to placate the apparent programming masses who are frustrated with Go’s lack of features.<p>If anything, it would be easier for the Go team if people who don't like a lack of features abandoned ship.<p>Unless Google is heavily monetizing Go to where lack of adoption is costing them money, there doesn't seem to be any concrete reason they <i>need</i> to "placate the masses."
As long as Go stays small, relatively simple, and above all opinionated in how to do things (checking for errors explicitly in this case) then I’ll be all about it. Flexibility brings complexity.