The 7.6 packaged in Debian is perfectly usable and compatible with everything I've wanted to grab from Hackage. There's a few new bells and whistles in 7.8 (like TypedHoles and -fdefer-type-errors) that I'm looking forward to, but their lack doesn't mean I can't build existing code and when developing new code it just means I lack some new tools. Since these tools are lacking everywhere else, their temporary lack is obviously not keeping people away from Haskell.

Basically, you can get yourself access to a furnace to forge your own melon baller, but you've already got a spoon, and someone else will be shipping you a melon baller next month.