Was the VM a failure?

[Rafal]

What is the measure of success? 

If VM was supposed to carry some meaning and educate people then it's a complete failure as nobody is able to read it.

If it was to be understood only by its author then it probably worked but we cannot be sure. Maybe he wasn't able to understand it himself after a while,
just like it happens with badly written computer code.

If it was meant to sell and earn money then it was a success, just maybe not for the author. Emperor Rudolf paid for a lot of cash for it, then Voynich payed cash for it, then yet someone else paid for it. Unfortunately the author could at best only watch it from a cloud in Heaven