From the limited interaction I've had with him, Phillip seems all right to me. I have him to thank for SL, which in turn has led me to meet many of what I consider to be my best friends, on SL and forums like this one that I'm only on because they are (or started as) SL forums.
At the fireside, Phillip made no secret of the fact that SL eventually evolved in a direction other than what he intended; but he didn't seem upset or disappointed about this in the least. Back then HiFi was still in its early or even planning stages, and his original plans for that, were to essentially turn it into what he'd originally hoped SL would become - a 3D meeting space, something to replace Ye Olde Conference Call first and foremost, with social functions mainly intended to allow the kind of socializing that's part of business-meeting. People showing off their new digital clothes and shoes, or "dancing" in clubs listening to music, or just sitting around on chairs and talking about nothing in particular - my impression is that these things weren't really part of Phillip's "vision". I don't think he's sore about that per se, it's just that he really really likes his vision, and still wants to see it come to fruition as he envisioned it. I wonder if, like happened with SL, over time the usership of HiFi might be trying to create a momentum toward making the social functions the core point of HiFi instead of just a necessary functional mechanic, and I wonder how he feels about that, and how that may or may not have informed decisions like the one to close the dev-hosted public spaces.
