> Do you guys really expect a for profit company to offer free API access to 3rd parties, that offer a better experience with no ads, bypassing their revenue stream, and making their own site and apps look terrible in comparison?

I certainly don't expect this, and if you read the linked article, Christian didn't either. His primary issue was that he was only given 30 days to find a solution, which wasn't a reasonable timeline. His secondary issue was the pricing of the API access. Having a paid API in the first place didn't make his list of concerns.