I tend to agree with daemonfox's argument.

In fact, they:
1. Didn't run in the most appropriate time for them (after cashing in all the pre-orders), but instead stayed around to get all the blame on their face and even return money to people

2. Have shown evidence of technical progress, by shipping some units to well known folks - why do this if you're mining in stealth mode with your secretly available hw?

On the other hand, pouring money into a project while in the R&D phase is quite common, even in the "dangerous" BTC-World (How was ASICMINER funded?). Everybody knows it is risky - very risky, in fact - but that's a different story.

Stay firm, daemonfox!