Questioning the wisdom of it makes sense. And joking about it makes sense. People here are joking, which is cool, but I think the gaming community's reaction elsewhere, as per usual, is knee jerk reactionary and stupid. Notch seems to want to be king of the stupids as well.
The one legitimate complaint I can see is that initial kickstarter investors aren't reaping the benefits of this deal. But then, they got what they were promised -- working prototypes, dev-kits and a start to this whole phenomenon.
A company like Facebook, or a large media company (like one of the film and telecoms studios, ie. Time Warner, Disney etc) is probably the best possible thing. They've now gotten themselves a huge injection of capital and protection from litigative action by competitors. Facebook are a heavyweight company, with an audience outreach that's probably better than anything any other company can boast. They're not beholden to any software or hardware company, or tied to any piece of proprietary hardware. A buyout from an Apple, Google, Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo would have been bad for openness. Sure, its possible that they could misuse the property and waste its potential, but $2bln would indicate that they do SEE that potential. As long as they give this thing a go and let the OR guys improve their product, I don't see this as a bad thing.
I think the more interesting ramification of all this is that it tells us how Facebook views its future. It doesn't just want to be a social network and advertiser anymore, it wants to buy up technology and exploit new media opportunities, to diversify. They've got the clout to shake up any industry they walk into, but all of the risk that any company trying that would have.
