The repo owners feel no pressure to respond to the needs of independent developers because ignoring or sidelining us keeps us as passive consumers of changes they've already discussed and implemented.

That means they're always one step ahead and they look like magicians because they announce a change to the protocol simultaneously to a new product feature and we all get sent back to the drawing board. They do that a few times and we give up and their competition is gone.

That's why most users think there are only a handful of developers.