You're correct, they are advocating that stroads be removed. The difference is that in your comparison to computers you assume that roads, like computers, have

You're correct, they are advocating that stroads be removed. The difference is that in your comparison to computers you assume that roads, like computers, have a quasi-linear trade-off between performance and power (ie: alpha x performance - beta x power = 0, obviously a simplification, but I hope it gets my point across) and thus a middle-ground between the extremes represents a good compromise for a variety of applications. Strong Towns appears to be arguing that the trade-off between movement (roads) and value (streets) is highly non-linear, and that the middle-ground's combined performance is so much worse than either a street or road that it's not worth building. See the comment below about counter-tops vs. stoves for an example of an extreme binary case.