Many other languages have a more readable way of conveying access, class vs instance methods, and of course return type.

Newer Java versions look great but the industry is slow to catch on, I've worked with Java 8 for an NGO for only a few months before landing a better job with a different language and the amount of boilerplate we made in just that little while is insane. A lot of it is generated by the IDE, sure, but it's so incredibly redundant.