I agree with the article in that designers can be too focused on the shiny and non-functional aspects of interfaces.

Personally I would treat design as being purely about function and anything superficial is about aesthetics.

But I think the author is throwing the baby out with the bathwater by wanting to restrict all animations. Fast, subtle animations, especially in the form of transitions between states/screens are extremely important for keeping the user informed about where they are in the context of the system.