Google thinks bebop is better than whatever they could do internally (including finding people to hire up) to build a comparable product for that budget.
This is Yodlee, the USA's largest financial API for consumer products (Mint, etc), endorsed by all large banks and investment firms. They have millions of users.
Suckless.org disproves the authors thesis. Heck, UNIX itself disproves the thesis. A project can grow to include more compatible components, without needlessly cluttering each component. Finishing one program is not the end of all software development.
There used to be a concept called "professionalism" where people didn't let their personal cultural biases crowd out contributors, and people applied their humanity problem at hand at work, and engaged in unrelated conversations on breaks and after work, not disrupting people who are working on the project.
You think its "phony" when someone shows up at X conference transparently focused of talking about X?
You think its selfish when some knows how we wants to help, and wants to find the people he wants to help?
I feel like I am taking crazy pills, where technical content gets zero attention in a technical project. It sounds to me like the conference are getting taken over by vacationers who want to have a party week (possibly soft-embezzled by expensing an employer) pushing out people who care about the project.
It reminds of when the college resume padders took over the high school math club, and instituted a substantial membership fee to finance a trip to a math competition where they didn't actually compete, and I had to create a new club to gather people for math activities.
Having lunch with your coworkers gives you 250 chances per year to have an important work-related conversation. A conference offers precious little time, so it is important to be efficient in getting people together who have things to say to each other.