but who would use it?
Well, I keep hearing around here that Perl is so superior to Java and many, many people use Java. Don't underestimate the potential of a well-funded marketing department :)
unlike most open source initiatives, Perl has a money man.
Who can't even adequately fund Perl's founder and a couple devoted core developers to work on Perl. Need I remind you that $40,000,000,000 is a lot more than $100,000?
We could boycott its use, maintenance, and development.
Until your boss says "use it." It's nice to think that your personal development preferences affect these things, but they don't.