My impression is that the article is for people who would be overwhelmed with prism-break (and couldn't do _anything_ with that list of tools - prism-break.org isn't very actionable without prior knowledge).

If someone without ITsec experience comes up and asks what to do about that nasty NSA stuff they've read in the news, and you tell them to drop their operating system ("Google, Microsoft, Apple" includes Windows, OSX, iOS, Android, Windows Phone), the applications that run on top of them, and their Internet based communication (Skype and Facebook), they'll probably ask you where they could buy a box of index cards and post stamps, and how to build a hut in the forest. And then turn around and change nothing.

That list provides a way to reduce the attack surface - not particularily against the NSA (because of the backdoors), but certainly against the Firesheep instance running on the neighbor's laptop in the cafe. It also raises awareness without overwhelming newcomers.

Let them lock down their in-flight communication. You can still tell them about endpoint security later (and why US based corporate silos are a problem in that regard), so they can "level up".

If that list isn't radical for you, you're probably not the target audience. For now, please note that it doesn't end with "you're done. Congratulations, you're now secure!", but with crypto parties and other ways to raise awareness - those are great places to consider and implement more radical steps towards security. At least if people are around who can lend a hand.