well it seems like their technology is extremely valuable as well, since from what i've been reading on HN, they blow the socks off all would-be competitors
blew, past-tense. They killed their public product today, the funeral's in three months.
damnit, upvoted by mistake. apologies.
The technology isn't hard. I know 'real time' is ridiculously over hyped now, but it's not rocket science. I'd expect quite a few etherpad clones to popup.