> So a nicer-written C that inherits all the issues from C?

And inherits all of the benefits of C. C is the foundation of the computing world. "C, but not built 50 years ago" is, by itself, a tremendous value add to a programming ecosystem that has largely abandoned attempts to write a truly performant language in favor of handicapping programmers with fully automated safety.

Rust is a low-level language for people who don't write low-level code. Zig is for those who do.