[sievebrain]

The downsides are enormous.

You can use the 'javapackager' tool in Java 8 to make a tarball that contains a JRE. It's not small, but that's a result of the age of the platform; it just has a lot of features (in Java 9 there is a tool that can make a bundled but stripped and optimised package).

Go binaries are getting larger and the compiler is getting slower over time, as they add features. They don't have any magical solution for bloat: eventually, they'll add the ability to break the runtime out into a dynamic library as it gets fatter and fatter.

Or of course they can just refuse to add features and doom their users to a mediocre, frustrating experience forever.

[NateDad]

Actually, the compiler is getting faster in 1.7, and binaries are getting smaller: http://dave.cheney.net/2016/04/02/go-1-7-toolchain-improveme...

[mseepgood]

Go 1.7 (tip) binaries are smaller than Go 1.4 binaries.