There are some alternatives, the old MX-Crystal (?), or MX-Green and Red, and I'm only talking about Cherry. The author mentioned sour fingers, he probably should get a keyboard with switches that need less force (with the MX-Brown he should already have on, if I'm not mistaken).
Mechanical keyboards are no hipster-device for YOLO-sound (wow, that hurts to write, and it hurt to read). They are the better tool for a job, if you write much. It's a bit sad to see the article misrepresenting that, even though it is nice to see them appreciated.
Tip: If you want to try a mechanical keyboard without fluff and hype price, look into the basic cherry lines, G80-3000 especially. They have the same switches and cost the half.
And UniComp. Proper buckling spring keys, no bullshit.