I don't think that drinking has anything to do with the brogrammer trend. Drinking was around before the brogrammer trend and it's going to be around after. The author states that drinking might be the cause of the brogrammer trend but the offers nothing to support that claim and does not elaborate further.
Nobody is discussing drinking as a cause of this because it's not.
I actually prefer a chat room over email. It's logged, with group discussion and it's asynchronous. I don't have to begin a reply and then wait for a response. I just get it out in the room and keep going.
Another thing I like about using a room is the chance to use Hubot (http://hubot.github.com/). It makes for some fun and can also be extended to actually do useful stuff.
If your team as an aversion to IM try to entice them with a room is better because it's not one to one and everyone can see and answer questions and it facilitates group discussion easily and it's asynchronous so it gets out of your way.
I would agree with Steve's statement if it were phrased as "cooperation over competition." Sometimes competing is just not avoidable, but that's alright.
Developer/hackers know what other developer/hackers want because they want it themselves.
It's a great place to be as a developer and as a product company, but I don't think it's attainable everywhere.