These projects are all very different, but the dynamic is the same. Someone builds a cool, free product, it gets popular, and that popularity attracts a buyer. The new owner shuts the product down and the founders issue a glowing press release about how excited they are about synergies going forward. They are never heard from again.
Lastly I would say to any tech person trying to change the world—we already changed it quite a bit. Maybe take your foot off the gas and look around first. The tech startups that came up in the 1990s and 2000s had really excellent intentions and pure
No one is ridiculing tech startups for their insincerity. Their honest desire to change the world (in awful ways) is universally acknowledged. Moreover, for a powerful person to call journalists cynical is a pretty classless thing to do in 2019. People are getting killed. Paul Graham's pattern of impugning the motives of anyone who disagrees with him is really starting to piss me off. Lastly I would say to any tech person trying to change the world—we already changed it quite a bit. Maybe take your foot off the gas and look around first. The tech startups that came up in the 1990s and 2000s had really excellent intentions and pure motives. It's not enough.