Lately we've been getting a completely different reaction from clients when they ask what language we work in and I answer "primarily Rust". For the past few years, they have been almost completely agnostic, with a few asking something along the line "Ok, but why not C or C++?". I wouldn't characterize anyone (well, except for one) as being "anti-Rust", but rather simply not knowing what it is.
Now we've started to see clients be very positive at the mention of Rust. This change happened quickly, and it doesn't seem isolated.
I have no idea why, but I'd be curious to know if anyone else has been noticing a change in attitude out there, and if anyone has any theories as to why now? I work in an industry that can be extremely change-averse, but also where there's a lot of high-assurance development (where Rust would, at least in theory, be a strength).
You are not keeping up with the news much. In the last year or so we have seen white papers from the likes of NIST in the USA talking about software bugs and security issues and recommending the use of "safe" languages. For example this:
Safety or quality cannot be "tested into" programs. It must be designed in from the start. Choosing to implement with a safer or more secure language or language subset can entirely avoid whole classes of weaknesses.
From:
There have also been papers put out by big names like Microsoft and Google about there use of Rust to combat security issues:
This is completely speculation, but one possibility is that frequency illusion might explain part of the phenomenon. Suppose some clients have only heard of Rust in the recent past. To hear it again from you is sort of a confirmation that "everyone is using it, therefore it must be important." Increasing press coverage could also be reinforcing the illusion and its related cognitive biases.