(My take on this is neutral. I was asked to transcribe the debate to text. The video was created by a third party in response to an
article on Hacker News that compared the two platforms.)
Tropo fan: Did you see the post on Hacker News about Tropo vs Twilio?
Twilio fan: Yes, I did
Tropo fan: What do you think about it?
Twilio fan: I think that Twilio is better.
Tropo fan: It seems that Tropo has more features.
Twilio fan: Twilio gave me a netbook.
Tropo fan: Tropo has
international phone numbers. Does Twilio?
Twilio fan: No, but I got so wasted at Twilio's Christmas party I threw up in Dave McClure's hat.
Tropo fan: You threw up in his hat?
Twilio fan: Yes, he didn't mind. He has 499 others.
Tropo fan: That sounds like a lot of hats. Does Dave McClure know anything about telephony?
Twilio fan: No. He's a super angel. He doesn't know anything about telephony, but he curses a lot, and that is cool.
Tropo fan: Is that what makes him a super angel? All of the cursing?
Twilio fan: Yes. He also plays ultimate frisbee, and he owns lots of hats.
Tropo fan: Yes, you mentioned the hats already. Tropo supports speech recognition. Does Twilio?
Twilio fan: No. ____ the noise.
Tropo fan: What did you say?
Twilio fan: That's what Dave McClure says to say anytime we don't like something. ____ the noise. He is a super angel.
Tropo fan: Didn't Dave McClure say open source is for losers?
Twilio fan: ____ the noise. Super angel.
Tropo fan: Tropo is open source. Is Twilio?
Twilio fan: No. ____ the noise. Super angel.
Tropo fan: But isn't Twilio built on top of Asterisk and a hodgepodge of other open source software?
Twilio fan: Yes, but Twilio isn't open source. Open is for losers.
Tropo fan: But it sounds like Twilio just glued together a bunch of open source software and now is charging developers to use it.
Twilio fan: ____ the noise. Twilio gave me a netbook.
Tropo fan: Yes. You said that already. Tropo is completely free for developers. Is Twilio free?
Twilio fan: No. You have to give them your credit card in order to get a phone number, but they sent me a t-shirt, so I didn't mind.
Tropo fan: It's beginning to sound like you only like Twilio because they give you prizes and free drinks.
Twilio fan: ____ the noise. I have to go now. There is huge party at the Twilio headquarters, and I don't want to miss it. They just raised 12 million dollars, and I heard they are spending all 12 million on booze, iPads, and unicorn hats.
Tropo fan: Wow, twelve million dollars can buy a lot of booze, iPads, and unicorns hats. I hope you have fun at your party.
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