Oh my goodness, people are misinterpreting my comment, I am so sorry.

I mean that I am experiencing so much schadenfreude. I am not criticizing anyone else who is sharing in it.

Indeed. Threads like this make me ashamed of Hacker News.

Alas, because we've been seduced by the promise of sweet sweet VC money + IPO's.

I'm a weird case, but maybe not that weird. I realized recently that I don't really even like programming. I mean, not as much as I like sitting on the beach, or hiking, or talking to a friend at a party. I'm in it for the money. I'd rather see the better technology/least sleazy company win, but if I had ten trillion dollars I'd go sit on the beach, not keep programming. I'm here for the money, I'm just determined to not be corrupted along the way.

So when I hear about the demise of Clinkle, I must admit I rejoice somewhat. Because their product was dumb, or at least unimaginative, and I know that funding is limited.

But I think technology used to have people more like Steve Wozniak, who really cared about the technology for its own sake. And someone like that would have no particular feelings about Clinkle, because they already got their wish of being able to hack around on tech all day.

So, yeah, an apology for schadenfreude.

Sorry, my comment was poorly worded—I mean that I am experiencing schadenfreude, not criticizing people who are also experiencing it.

Cheers!