Rust and GCC, two different ways

It will in fact make it a language. Right now until there's only one implemntation, it's only a compiler for its own, self-defined, dialect. It's possible that work on some areas will be boosted by this and that others will slow down because instead of focusing on how things can be done in the existing compiler they will have to think about whether or not it makes sense in general. It's always harder.