From my reading it was about rv the new tool that hopes to replace rubygems and the push to remove the competition.

The losing of sponsorships because of the talk is what gave shopify leverage. And they used it.. out of fear over the rv tool.

The offensive statement from the 'rv' readme is clearly alarming. Shopify, as every other Ruby user, is highly dependent of a working rubygems infrastructure. I can fully understand their motivation, to clarify the situation and to implement rules and separation of concerns. However, it's clear, that the whole process was a disaster in communication, planning, execution by Ruby Central.

Chances are, this will make rv into a bigger success. Assuming the rv developers delivers on their promises. (I tried using their first version on launch only to find that the features I wanted have not been written yet).

Where are you getting that Shopify fears rv?