It's obvious YC likes stuff that is made for what the mass would like to use.
I'd say YC probably choose to interview you mostly because you seemed to have talent. Maybe if you had displayed more flexibility on doing maybe other things maybe YC would not have rejected you.
I agree. I'm surprised YC didn't suggest building some consumer facing app that makes use of your comet stuff. There are many application areas that could benefit from real-time capabilities.
Also, Paul has talked about how turning a luxury into a commodity is usually a good recipe for success. Most real-time applications are very expensive and use lame desktop client/server architectures. Imagine something web-based and free that does the same thing.
It's obvious YC likes stuff that is made for what the mass would like to use.
I'd say YC probably choose to interview you mostly because you seemed to have talent. Maybe if you had displayed more flexibility on doing maybe other things maybe YC would not have rejected you.