This is a refreshingly honest analysis from someone that has a lot of skin in the game. I completely agree on both points. First, the functional paradigm is important and a step forward for most problem domains. Second, none of the current crop of functional languages is going to truly break into the mainstream.
I think it's more likely that we'll see more and more functional techniques trickle down into mainstream languages than it is that we'll see a pure functional language adopted as-is. C++ just picked up lambdas, after all. I do regret somewhat my dalliance with FP over the last decade though. If I'd invested that time in mastering DSP or graphics programming instead I'd be better off overall.
There is a definite functional trickledown effect going on with mainstream languages.
I have the suspicion that the breakthrough functional language will be like CoffeeScript in that it compiles down to Javascript taking advantage of the high performance Javascript runtimes and the functional core of Javascript.
I think it's more likely that we'll see more and more functional techniques trickle down into mainstream languages than it is that we'll see a pure functional language adopted as-is. C++ just picked up lambdas, after all. I do regret somewhat my dalliance with FP over the last decade though. If I'd invested that time in mastering DSP or graphics programming instead I'd be better off overall.