Is such a well reasoned + researched post deserving of a knee-jerk response?
High char count isn't a measure for sound reasoning.
Maybe you disagree with his reasoning. Maybe his reasoning is illogical or misguided. But dismissing something as FUD without providing any sort of counter arguments or reasoning is worse than being wrong.
I don't think it's FUD, adn I don't agree with the approach of 'it's free, so you have no say in it.' I wish that if a service was not working for a publisher (and therefore not getting any more development $) there were a protocol to either open-source it or offer it on a subscription basis with a public minimum target that needed to be reached to justify ongoing operation in its current form (eg Reader, which worked fine for many people).