Malicious ? No, and this is far from astroturfing, he even speaks as "we". It's just a logical move to defend your company when people claim your product is buggy.

There is no other logical move, this is what I am saying, contrary to people above say this requires a lot of courage. It's not about courage, it's just normal and logic (and yes Hackernews matters a lot, this place is a very strong source of signal for investors).

Not bad at all, just observing it.