It's very contentious right now but I think it's a good thing this is happening. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here, but I'm not view: love or hate Core, it's had a de facto monopoly on providing node software. Monopolies always tend to act in their own interest at some point if it's diverges from their customers. Competition forces them to be honest and maintain their appeal to the customers. We should have more alternatives to both Core and Knots, ideally.
But yeah, all the discourse right now sucks and most of it isn't worth engaging in.