In fact, after reading the original article, I felt a bit slighted and thought to myself "fine, I'll just build it myself".
In fact, after reading the original article, I felt a bit slighted and thought to myself "fine, I'll just build it myself".
Building something with similar functionality is one thing; building a stem-to-stern carbon copy is just low class.
Exclusivity is not a license to, nor a justification for, outright copying.
When the second restaurant opened, promoting its inclusionary nature and affordable prices, I'd eat there every day for a week, because fuck those first guys. Fuck 'em for thinking that their making something halfway interesting entitles them to superiority, and fuck 'em for thinking the right way to show off something interesting is to emphasize how you're not allowed to try it out.
David Karp wanted a blogging interface that made blogging easier and more beautiful and more diverse. Several years later, Tumblr is one of the largest sites on the Internet. I don't like the direction it ultimately took, but I admire the hell out of David for releasing his cool idea to users who then turned it into something incredible and wholly unpredictable.
I also find it amusing that we're calling Svtble "great", when it's just a simple, well-made tool with one neat organizational technique – it's like Quietwrite with a todo list attached. Simple and well-made is much appreciated, but you don't get to be a douchebag until you've actually made something significant. Or you can make that thing and remain a nice and humble guy, because the two are not mutually fucking exclusive.
Whether he wanted to open it to the public is another question though.