I believe it was both necessary and not a nitpick. While I agree choosing Cake or Zend by default is a fool's errand, the MicroPHP Manifesto read like someone who'd just found CodeIgniter for the first time.
I suggest you do some research about the author of the MicroPHP manifesto before throwing snark out there like that.
Ed is a personal friend (and we do a podcast together) with many, MANY years of experience building applications using PHP. While I don't agree with him on some points in there, he does deserve to not be shit on by people who can't be bothered to do 30 seconds of research about the author.
I didn't do any research about the author and just now found out his name is Ed. I mention this because I'm someone whose only experience with this author was that one post and even with that small amount of information I was able to infer that the guy had experience and knew what he was talking about. I also think its very obvious that what Ed suggests is not to be taken at face value. When I read the microPHP Manifesto my reaction was that it made total sense but of course, as always, follow it if and when it makes sense. Taking into account that the post was probably a kind of rant as a reaction to some framework frustrations his manifesto makes perfect sense.
Now the author of this article refuting the Manifesto seems to be under the impression that what Ed suggests should be the way things are done from now on. It's clear as day that all Ed was sayng was that sometimes the MicroPHP Manifesto tenets make more sense. And they do! Sometimes!
Guess what? Everyone is right! Hopefully that doesn't make some people's brain explode but both authors are correct. Mileage varies. The thing I didn't like most about this was how he picked apart the drummer analogy. I felt like it was a low blow and not really necessary.
Ed is a personal friend (and we do a podcast together) with many, MANY years of experience building applications using PHP. While I don't agree with him on some points in there, he does deserve to not be shit on by people who can't be bothered to do 30 seconds of research about the author.