Yes but you usually enter a competition when you either have a chance to win, provide something the other won't or do it for experience (if you have resources to waste).

In the case or Mir:

- it's like creating an alternative linux kernel. Very few chances it will succeed.

- even they roadmap didn't list anything wayland couldn't do.

- canonical doesn't have that much cash to waste.

I would have get Mir if they would have said:

- we will do X that wayland clearly can't do and that we can't contribute to wayland;

- we have tons of cash and devs and can spare a few to experiment.

It's just not the case here.

This is open source, we all want a better linux desktop, not a war. Mir felt more like starting a battle than solving a problem.