well, chalk this one up to cultural disconnect -- maybe the closest parallel is what used to be called "the generation gap".

And another, possibly equal factor is it's a really bad article, written by a guy who at best occasionally rises to mediocrity. Nick Mamatas is an editor at Soft Skull Press, a publisher of fringe social criticism connected to the NYC punk scene. I would guess their biggest seller is the cheesy Bush bio "Fortunate Son", which they picked up when St. Martins dropped it.

I can more or less follow what he means, but an exegesis is more trouble than it's worth. Everyone can relax, though -- as DougR suspects, there's no evidence GE and IBM are paying anyone to post mean things on web forums.