> I feel like most of the animosity towards these projects is not because of their (perceived) lack of technical merit, but because of the abrasive personality of their creator.
I think this happens a lot and is also an out of date assessment, Lennart may be matter of fact in a stereotypically Germanic sort of way, which rubs some people the wrong way, but seems to have matured greatly since the flamewars during the PulseAudio days 5+ years ago.