Yeah, what you saw in the original post is what you get from a Playstation site.  What you get from a pro-Microsoft site is stuff on how Sony is doomed, and will be pulling out of the videogame market "any day now".

i did not know that having a growing user base and a making money year after year was a sign of failure.

I agree that this article is complete and utter crap, and that XBox Live is clearly growing and not failing.  However, in your haste to rebute all the claims you have made some errors:

1. Thats not what automatic updating is. Automatic updating is when you specify a time (say 2am) and at that designated time the PS3 will turn on, and download any updates for all of your games while you sleep blissfully.

2. You just compared the number of game DEMOS on Live to the number of FULL GAME TRIALS on PSN.  At this stage in the generation I would be willing to bet that the number of DEMOS on both services is pretty comparable (barring exclusives), so I would say they are even on that front.  FULL GAME TRIALS (of which there are apparently 32) are completely different.  You get to download the full game and play it fully unlocked for an hour.  So yes I would say PSN+ betters Live in this department.

3. I'm not sure what point you are making here...?

4. As long as its not intrusive advertising is A-Ok in my book, so yes I agree that advertisements on the dashboard is not a big deal

5. I agree that these games are not "free" considering that you need to subscribe to get them.  However, these are most definitely not games that you can pick up for "less than a 5er" as you put it.  inFamous 2, LittleBigPlanet 2, and  Resident Evil 5 are most definitely all AAA games that cost more than $20 each.  And the list keeps changing

6. Yeah who the hell would complain about getting a free 360.  If anyone gets a free 360 they don't want I would be more than happy to take it off their hands :)

So PSN's only real advantage is paying $50 a year for "free" games. Got it.

As for the other points... "lack of automated updates"? Really? I'll take XBL's individual update notifications when launching games or apps over the PSN's entire system updates that can take forever and have been known to brick some consoles in certain instances.

"Demos vs game trials"... umm, pretty sure just about every XBLA game is essentially in trial mode unless you purchase the full version. And demos vary from game to game, but some let you basically play the full game for a limited amount of time like the Just Cause 2 and Kingdoms of Amalur demos, so again this point is moot.

Lastly, advertisements... I always get a kick out of this one. Do those couple of non-game related advertisements usually buried on the bottom-right of each tab of the 360's dashboard that you have to go out of your way to navigate to in order to trigger REALLY bother you that much? And isn't the point of the Game / Video / Music etc tabs to let you know what the latest or upcoming releases of each subject are, aka ADVERTISING them? How come none of that applies to PSN and PS+ all of a sudden? Don't they advertise their new or upcoming games, videos and music? Oh right... you usually have to navigate about 7 pages deep to finally get to what you're looking for on PSN... but hey, at least there's no advertisements!

Many of MS fans misunderstood the article. I can agree 100% that is not failing from a MS view as a company because of tons of cash coming out of it.

However, the article is about the value you get out of PS+ compared to Live. And I can ensure you that the value you get from PS+ as a customer is much more what you get out of Live.

Next topic please.

Sounds more like the PS audience... they demand that Sony deliver a flawless online service with everything they ask for, and they want it all for free.  They refuse to pay anything unless they're getting "free" stuff in return, no matter how detrimental it is to their favorite game company's financial outlook in the long run.

The vast majority of 360 owners that I know including myself are satisfied with the XBL Gold model because we know we've been getting a superior online experiece over our Sony brethren going all the way back to last gen, and we understand how a business works, therefore we don't whine and complain about forking over a little bit extra for a superior product.  A $60/year XBL subscription is equal to $5 a month.  By comparison, many people have no problem shelling out $8 a month / $96 a year just to watch old movies and TV shows on Netflix.

Nintendo lets you play online and use apps like Netflix for free too... how come you don't see people flocking over to their consoles for their online needs?  Oh right... their service sucks, and they've been partying in the online department like it's 1999.

This article is just shitty and terrible on so many levels. For starters comparing XBL Gold to PS+ is a complete waste of time. They are different services meant to accomplish different tasks. XBL Gold is MS's all-encompassing online service. PS+ is a membership discount service aimed to do nothing more than provide discounts at the cost of a monthly subscription fee. This would be like comparing your 24 Hour Fitness membership to your Sam's Club membership. I would hope that PS+ seems like the better value to those that it appeals to since its entire point is to provide discounts and games in exchange for a fee. I shudder at all the people talking about "OMG FREE GAMEZ!" in here though. You don't get any free games. You subscribe to a service that provides you with what are essentially rentals. I pay Blockbuster $17 a month to be able to go in the store any time I want and swap a game out for another game. I would never say that they are providing me with free games. They are providing me a service that I pay for, and games happen to be included. If I stop paying Blockbuster, I have to return whichever game I have out. If I cancel PSN, I lose out on all the bonus content I did not pay for. Now, if you want to compare XBL Gold Only Discounts to PS+, that's another thing entirely. But even still, you're comparing apples and oranges.

As for this joke of a list of complaints.

6 - Is this even a complaint about XBL? It's an anti-Microsoft complaint. Not surprising considering the site is a Playstation fansite.

5 - Lack of automatic updates are not an issue because unlike PS3, the updates on 360 only take a few seconds. Automatic updates are a big convenience on PS3 because they are more of a necessity. No one likes sitting there for 15 minutes while a game updates. On 360 you power it on, it prompts for an update, and seconds later you're done. Now painfully slow downloads, no installing.

4 - I will take an emphasis on making sure every XBLA title has a demo over an emphasis on game trials any day of the week and twice on Sunday. This is a complaint that is entirely subjective. There are plenty of PSN games I have not bought simply because they have no demo.

3 - The issue with this complaint is that it ignores the possibility that for many of those XBL users it mentions, the service is far and away superior to PSN and that don't mind paying extra for a premium service. I mean, digital television is free. Does this mean we don't need cable?

2 - Advertisements exist on PSN as well. I was just playing a game of Madden in an online league and was alerted to a message in my inbox from Sony regarding NFL Sunday Ticket. Checking it right now, yep, it's SPAM advertising that Sunday Ticket is now only $150! Wow! On a serious note, this is an actual message sent into my PSN inbox. Is this really better than a little tab on your screen that you don't even have to look at, scroll past, or acknowledge in any way?

1 - PSN games are not free. Author of the title is an idiot.

Let us compare Club Nintendo to PS+ then.

But you can't compare the two. They are completely didn't types of services. Xbox Live is the overall experience. That is everything from playing online, using apps, and every other feature. PS+ is just a service Playstation offeres that includes getting free games and early access to stuff. It doesn't have anything to do with online play or their apps.

To me the author of the article purposely did it that way. Of course any time something is for free it is most like going to better (feeling) than something that costs money. So it is easy to say one is better than the other. However what they should have done was comapred the overall experience from Xbox Live and PSN. 

Finally the article isn't just about value.

1. People Don’t Care About the Free Stuff that You Actually Do Give Away

2. Lack of Automated Updates

These two statements in bold just prove not only the bias, but how ridiculous this article really is. For starters giving away free Xbox's has nothing to do with Xbox Live the service and how it compares to anything Sony.

Then he talks about automated updates. The reason someone needs to set a time on the PS3 to download something is because one needs to go on vacation and come back in order to wait out the download time for an update.

To me (someone that doesn't give a shit about xbox live or psn+, I would have to agree with the psn users.   Xbox live doesn't offer shit compared to psn+.  I mean you have Netflix on Xbox Live Gold when it shouldn't even be charged  (every system has Netflix now).  You pay extra for cross game chat that is all I see in Live Gold membership.