[kazinator]

Another take is that a bunch of clever people not only got the job done, but recognized that their role is done and went their separate ways.

A similar thing happened in hardware with the HDMI spec.

The worst thing in programming languages is these insipid language committees that refuse to disband. If you look at C and C++, it's obvious the main thing they care about above all is their self-preservation: the ability to continue meeting and tinkering with languages that everyone else critically depends on being stable.

The goal of no technical committee should be its own self-preservation.

[jacquesm]

This is so true. Once it's done: stop working on it. All this instability serves nobody in the longer term. At the same time: lots of stuff is released half baked or worse and as a result you get a decade of goal post moving and backwards incompatibility for free.