The alternate approach is also popular because there is no success in the typescript model, as in critical deficiencies get unfixed for decades (with some of the same "not fun" challenges )
And, in fact, many of the things people hate about C++ are the result of exactly the kind of compromises you have to make to apply a TypeScript-like model to language evolution. C backwards compatibility is what made C++ successful originally but is now one of the main things that makes C++ crappy today.