Python has had async for 10 years – why isn't it more popular?

Async Python remains relatively underutilized despite being available for a decade due to several key limitations. Network I/O is async's strongest use case, but file operations and CPU-bound tasks don't benefit as much due to the Global Interpreter Lock (GIL). Developers face challenges including unintuitive behavior, the need to maintain duplicate sync/async APIs, and inconsistent support across frameworks, creating significant overhead for maintainers.