pg's original article was great, and it's nice that 37signals are along for the ride - but let's be clear, Jason's article is about "artisanal high-touch", not the real deal.

The real-deal looks like email lists, cron jobs, Google Docs, throwaway Ruby scripts, Access databases. It's operational and technical debt that's the least worst option. Artisanal high-touch has a bevelled drop-shadowed button saying "They paid us! Enter the transaction manually..." and full Campfire integration.