Reading the article, you can certainly argue that Dopplr didn't have the adoption curve they hoped for. They get money, they get to do something new (one founder's a partner at BERG London, who are pretty kick-ass).

The users? Sure. But it's a free service. Like the recent quote says, the users are the product. (http://www.metafilter.com/95152/Userdriven-discontent, top comment.)

DHH's hating the players when he should hate the game.