I really like functional languages while others hate it, but I don't think functional languages will take off by itself. The reason why functional languages don't work is that they're they wrong metaphor. Object oriented programming works because it fits the user model of how to describe actions and the world.
Features of functional languages will influence PL (Ruby, EMCA script, Python), server paradigms (map reduce), but I don't think it'll ever go mainstream by itself.
Features of functional languages will influence PL (Ruby, EMCA script, Python), server paradigms (map reduce), but I don't think it'll ever go mainstream by itself.