I've had a similar experience that really affected me.

When asp.net came up, I wrote an ecommerce in vb.net; I read the specs and wrote the code with notepad. The system worked well for my customer and he was pretty happy. But when other programmers tried to pick up my code using their ide, it wasn't possible. So they unleased a flow of toxic waste in my mail. Now I only program for fun. I was young at the time, and was living in a new environment without friends or support. If I had a stronger spine that day, surely I would have continued.