People in the tech world pretty regularly use expressions like "dead trees" for print and "spinning rust" for magnetic disks, both of which were undeniably revolutionary and whose modern embodiments are marvels of engineering and logistics.
I guess we just have very different expectations about tone in the context of this particular article.
Me writing this comment to you is playing snooker, because the protons are bouncing off each other and stuff.
It's an attempt to discredit the network by using low-brow humour as a comparison.