> Then there is the whole point that Zig is not yet 1.0, and who knows what will still change until then.

Seems like their luck finally ran out. For the longest time, they were getting all kinds of passes, as if a post 1.0 language, that others don't get. 10 years is quite a long time not to hit 1.0 or still be into beta breaking changes. Though I think that (the luck) was significantly aided by their perpetual and odd HN boosting.

> While bounds checking, improved argument passing, typed pointers, proper strings and arrays are an improvement over C, it still suffers from use after free cases.

While Zig was a bit safer and more modern C alternative, safety was arguably not so much their selling point. Plenty of other C alternative languages are equally or more safe. Dlang and Vlang, both now having optional GCs and ownership, are examples.