The Clang kickstarter announcement underscores the importance of good public-facing communications, which is sorely lacking here. I'm not too astonished that the devs feel the way the announcement reads, but this shows how there's value in having "inside words", and a different public-facing voice. Their public-facing communications should be intended to improve the company's prospects, not hurt them.
Dang- their kickstarter video was so incredible that all I wanted was for this project to work. The letter they have does nothing to acknowledge the let down of the people, and didn't take responsibility... both parts of legitimate apologies.
I can see it now: "I enjoyed reading this Neal Stephenson Kickstarter, but it didn't have a conventional denouement, and had lots of loose ends."
In a diamond age of VC funding, his effort to crowdfund snowcrashed.