MySpace was written in crap-tastic Coldfusion on Windows servers that would constantly crash. For years it had a single point of failure in the Cisco switch that demarcated its network border. They got their initial user base by spamming 50 million email addresses that they used to sell Razr scooters to.

Basically they are the antithesis of everything HN "stands for", if you could paint with a broad brush.

Defined an industry, an era, and put LA entertainment on the map for internet media. SOLD.

$580 million.

Overtaken by facebook, written in PHP by some kid in his dorm room, idea probably stolen and financed through fraud and deception. Horrendous privacy regime. Redefining the industry, put the northeast on the map for startup incubation.

Worth billions.

Do I even need to go into Twitter? Scaling difficulties on physical servers managed by NTT Verio, as old school as it gets. Not a cloud for miles.

Such is the way of the world. All of these companies addressed user needs and came out on top, all of them had nothing to do with development methodologies or preferred platforms.