It's obvious to most people (regardless of whether you think that free software is in important principle) that the techniques described in that section will result in you making MUCH LESS money, at least in the current context of these people selling their API.
Ignoring any open vs. closed source arguments, this kind of thing would work much better as library than some third party service. There's no way I'd make an application that depended on a third party service over the internet for basic UI interaction.
You're absolutely right, that's why we plan to release a "run on your server / embed on your device" runtime.
Having it online for configuration has at least two advantages:
1/ Easier to start (1 minute and you're playing with it)
2/ Leverage existing, "live" data to build your configuration
In that case, I'll be on the look out when it's released!