Allen's point about C's impact on compiler development is certainly true, but we can't turn back history. For better or worse, the reasons why C won (in terms of adoption) have mostly been compounded further over the years, and the case against it has weakened as compilers improved.
As for the future, I'm slightly ambivalent. On the one hand, common sense would lead me to agree with you that, with the exception of some numerical code (where I'm hopeful for further improvements in JIT compilation), most userspace code should be written in languages other than C/C++, retaining most of the efficiency of the underlying infrastructure. On the other hand, there are languages out there (like D, for instance) that essentially fix all the glaring issues of C and fail to get significant adoption. Weird as it may seem from the confines of the HN bubble, usage of C has actually grown over recent years and betting against C has historically turned out poorly.
You see it in Microsoft, Apple and Google desktop and mobile OSes roadmaps, where access to classical C and C++ code is being reduced to a funnel, with constraints what user code is still allowed to do with them.
It will be impossible task to kill C on UNIX clones and embedded due to culture and existing tools.
However the world of application development is much bigger than just UNIX systems programming or embedded development.
As for the future, I'm slightly ambivalent. On the one hand, common sense would lead me to agree with you that, with the exception of some numerical code (where I'm hopeful for further improvements in JIT compilation), most userspace code should be written in languages other than C/C++, retaining most of the efficiency of the underlying infrastructure. On the other hand, there are languages out there (like D, for instance) that essentially fix all the glaring issues of C and fail to get significant adoption. Weird as it may seem from the confines of the HN bubble, usage of C has actually grown over recent years and betting against C has historically turned out poorly.