Google hired Ferrous Systems to train employees, as well as writing their own training curriculum. That sounds to me like people who would not otherwise use Rust being asked to use it at their job, and their job investing in their skills because they wouldn't or hadn't done it on their own. Is that different than "forced to use it"?
> It does not seem likely anyone of those 1000 is currently doing maintenance so much as completely new projects/features.
Google has been using Rust in android since 2019. That's four years. That is of course not "legacy" in any large sense, but at what point for you is something legacy? Does none of that work over four years count as "maintenance"?
> So if you were pulled from maintenance in C++ to work on something new in Rust I'm pretty sure you'll say Rust is great just because you feel more productive.
The start of this sub-thread, and a lot of the discussion inside of it, implies that people are using Rust simply because they want to, and not because it provides actual advantages. Is your position here that the sole advantage of Rust over C++ is that since projects are newer, they're better to work on? And if so, is that advantage illegitimate?