Ah, so you were not able to work with json in Erlang a decade ago, and still hold grudge about it! Jeez.
If your understanding of "underlying language infrastructure" is also based on your experience 10 years ago, then that is the same with all languages, pal. With every version, programming languages evolve, they become better. Erlang is no different.
The fact that you didnt even knew about a widely popular library like jiffy until now, and you keep on ranting, "oh, my jsons..". It is just your ignorance, pal. You are ranting on about things you only have vague idea about.
For modern web development, go check out Cowboy. You are welcome.
K8s is "de facto standard" already? When did that happen? No doubt that K8s has a great future and I personally like it a lot as well. But to call it a standard requirement itself is premature.
Large enterprises are mostly concerned about whom to hold responsible and get support when stuffs break. For this reason, they have no problems shelling out big $$$ to buy from big players (even if your SaaS product is better) because they are guaranteed to be around when required.
If your understanding of "underlying language infrastructure" is also based on your experience 10 years ago, then that is the same with all languages, pal. With every version, programming languages evolve, they become better. Erlang is no different.