Well reading the article and the comments it looks as if Feedlounge is a subscription based online RSS reader. Hmmm with the number of free alternatives if looks as if they were going to have a hard time in the first place. I don't think it's fair to put the blame solely on 37 Signals for their demise.

This is pretty weak.

These guys were offering a paid for RSS reader. There are like 400 free ones out there already.

37Signals suggests people charge for software yes, but the don't say that you can simply sell anything your heart desires! If people aren't willing to pay for it, perhaps there isn't a market for it, and perhaps it's not a good idea for a business. (At least as a pay-per-use model)

This post completely decontexualized the situation.

RSS Feed Readers barely qualify as a free-standing product--of course you can't charge for them and expect to be wildly successful.

There's a big, not so subtle difference b/w "charging for any and all software" and "charing for software that users want AND creates value."

Mike is being sensational--and it's working.

When a company has millions of users among their other services, and they decide to cut one to focus on the others, I don't think that's failure at all.

This ought to be good for a few rounds. I must admit a certain guilty pleasure in seeing someone take them on.