Pre-processors start at -100 points -- the complexity of adding to the tool chain, the leaky abstractions, the extra difficulty in debugging, the fact you have to know two languages well to be effective, and so on. A pre-processor has to be really good and really clever to be worth the overhead.
The point is: if you don't like it you don't have to use it. PHP still stands in its current form. Snow may become popular with a minority of more adventurous devs and develop into something that you may want to use.
