I know there is a big difference between modern C++11 and C.
C11 has standard threads similarly with what you find in C++11, unfortunately you won't find this implemented by all vendors. I hope to see complete support for C11 threads in GCC and Clang in the near future.
Please stop right there and think at the average Ubuntu user, or at a person that has used Windows as his primary OS and just recently has tried Linux hoping to learn/try/test some C++0x/C++11 codes.
Obviously the linked article was not written with a hard core Linux user in mind.
I understand that, from where you stand, this is trivially simple. Just don't assume everyone has your experience.