All languages (even C to some extent) that are in wide use evolve towards new and better ways, and obsolete old ways. I don't even recognize C++ anymore, and I wrote a frakkin compiler for it.
Speaking of people who have written C++ compilers, what do you think of Circle? Have you given any thought to targeting GPU shaders from D? I think "C-like low level control but with strong compile time metaprogramming" might be something of a sweet spot, though there is a lot of complexity to the space (mostly the oddball storage spaces).