> We — the programmers, designers, product people — collectively decided that users don't deserve the right to code in everyday products.
Nope. People chose the simpler platforms and tools with lower barrier to entry (no need to code) and the strange, fun, weird things were choked out or relegated to the unseen corners of the Internet. For a brief period you had a lot of people learning to code at some level because it was the only way to engage with the Internet at all.
It wasn't developers, designers, etc. that decided things should no longer have access to the tools, it was the consumer base at large who consistently chose the smoother, simpler, easier-to-use, less flexible, locked-down products.
People still have access to the tools. The Internet has an extremely low barrier to entry. It is accessible in a way most serious technology isn't. My son has been publishing his own page, full of weird little games and odd styling choices, etc. since he was nine.
Most people don't want products like MySpace. They voluntarily chose Facebook.
I hope this company finds a successful niche. I'm glad for any tools that encourage people to invest in their own creativity. But I doubt they are going to achieve mainstream success. Hopefully I'm wrong.