In reply to Matt.

So what plugins have you launched that work both with and without Calypso( and JetPack)? Looking at plugins tagged calypso and result is zero on .org.
A big goal of Jetpack is to make it smoother and easier for someone leaving WP.com to have the same experience, and using the same theme is part of that. I don’t see how making it easier for someone to go from .com to self-hosted is shrinking the market for anybody. :)
A even bigger goal is to increase the dependence on Automattic for endusers even if they leave or not even come to wp.com. There is nothing wrong with that business wise but saying a big goal is to make it easier is not the whole truth though :). The primary goal is to make as many users dependent on the services that Automattic provide. Again nothing wrong with that, but don't make JetPack some noble thing, it's just business.

The more features you put into JetPack given your marketing resources etc the harder it is for other devs to compete. Same goes with WooCommerce. The strategy looking from outside is to replace as many offerings currently in the market with services that are controlled by Automattic. Soon we will probably see even bigger focus on a page builder solution. It will be on wp.com first I suppose, then in JetPack. Don't think it will be included in Customizer in core.