[unclebucknasty]

I used Basecamp a few years back. It was neither horrible nor great in my opinion.

But, I don't think the software needs to be bad or they need to mistreat people to be parodied. If you can capture an element of something, then exaggerate it into absurdity. it's parody.

Also not so sure about attributing jealousy or hate as the motive here. I mean, it could be, but I just don't know what's on the author's mind (except that he/she clearly believes some things about the company to be absurd).

But, it does strike me that the only things worth parodying, for the most part, are those that either succeed or that fail in some very public or fantastic way.