Engine Yard's management took several strategic missteps over the years. One of them was stifling Merb. The quotes from Yehuda describe his difficulty in making the best of a forced merger.

Ezra's vision for Merb and DHH's vision for Rails were distinct. Both warranted development. Over time, I assume they would have collectively strengthened the Ruby community. It was a mistake for Engine Yard's management to have instead framed it as zero sum and forced a merger.

Your arguments that this was all just normal competition does not stand up to scrutiny

Discussing Engine Yard now does not seem fruitful if you do not address the quotes provided by Katz which refute your own prior comments