This is what happens when you create a project. 99 times out of 100, you make something that isn't what you'd hoped it would be.<p>So what?<p>The key is to recognize that failure is not the lack of certain project XYZ being at certain state QPO. Most people will not have the lifespan long enough to see a project they work on go perfectly. This notion of failure, that it is the lack of some future state of being showered in dollars/accolades/kisses-and-hugs, means that every project, ever, is a failure.<p>Failure is giving up.<p>Failure is letting that experience, where you didn't magically achieve your hopes and dreams, and letting it drive you back into the warm bosom of punching a clock at a gigantocorp or cargocultup. Instead of relying on yourself for your livelihood, your purpose, your mark on society[0], you go somewhere safe where you get told what to do and you just bide your time, collecting a paycheck, until you escape that particular bouncing dead cat on to the next one.<p>Success is not giving up. It's taking your lumps, "oooh, I made a shitty thing, woe is me, I'm not as smart as I thought I was" [1] and telling yourself that it doesn't matter, that you'll try again.<p>Chris, if you're reading here: start another IDE project. Use what you've learned. If you really, actually cared about the things you said, don't let your perceived failure with LightTable[2] prevent you from starting something new. It won't be the same story all over again, because you aren't the same person now as when you started LT in the first place.<p>In the end, no project is a failure, unless we let it have no impact on us, unless we learn nothing from it. Don't squander the lessons learned through bad projects by choosing to not continue onto new ones.<p>[0] And don't for a second think you don't owe society a mark or two<p>[1] Check my username<p>[2] I wish my projects have failed so well as LightTable