Wait, I'm confused, are you speaking about my article, which is itself a counterpoint, or the original article?
Whatever the case, I completely agree that a real discussion of design by committee should include managing all the different types of shareholders, and not just the "dumb client's wife" type.
Learning to do all of this properly would take a few years at least... Why don't you focus on one aspect (say, getting great at photoshop) and master that first?
You could say that this is actually beneficial for chinese startups, because without access to foreign alternatives chinese users are forced to use their services.
I don't think it's a coincidence if most segments of the chinese internet are dominated by a company from China, not the USA.
The other goal that the Chinese government is achieving, is that by pushing chinese users towards chinese companies, they make sure that they keep them under their thumb. It's much easier for them to take down a video from Youku than from Youtube.
Whatever the case, I completely agree that a real discussion of design by committee should include managing all the different types of shareholders, and not just the "dumb client's wife" type.