At the risk of splitting hairs, to me it reads more that the author is slating free software (or perhaps the only available free software), rather than praising

At the risk of splitting hairs, to me it reads more that the author is slating free software (or perhaps the only available free software), rather than praising commercial software. I think I read the article as a bit of a "stream of consciousness rant" and often give the spewers of such words a bit of leeway for interpretation. I've written in a state of mind of frustration and later thought "Yeah you did go a bit over the top there, but it's a reflection of your state of mind at the time".