(I don't see any discussion here to derail yet, so I hope you won't mind my (related) open-ended question.)<p>I think we all agree that Riak is really really cool. It inspired me to start looking into Erlang again, as it seems to be the native language for working with Riak.<p>Every time I start wading into learning Erlang I start wondering if it's the greatest thing ever, a great leap forwards, or merely some modest improvements backed with years of professional tuning to the needs of a telephone company.<p>Any thoughts from someone with lots of real experience with Erlang (as well as its alternatives)?