As someone who lived in there, 1988 Soviet Union is Soviet in name only. Once co-ops started rolling it was basically over for planned economy.
Even those who claim to be anti-Soviet express all the same thinking patterns.
WRT the article: The real start-upers bartered western PCs (faxes, etc) for raw materials, quickly got a good capital and were able to start serious enterprises. You could get a train car of aluminium for a fax machine, since having one was A Thing for late soviet bureaucrats and they had aluminium to spare.
I think Volozh did something like that before he decided to start Yandex.