I think what the editors at The Standard did in the case you mention was look at the two (or 3) main big boys and weighed in on who seemed to have the best chance for financial success.
One thing I noticed about Redfin when I used it was it had a fairly small coverage area, although luckily it included mine. If memory serves, it only included five areas around the US.
I disagree on Twitter. While the UI may not be elegant, there is a ton of potential as a backend service and it has critical mass within the tech savvy crowd. I think it'll be a big hit going forward.
for example, trulia will succeed but zillow will fail? perhaps, but they really don't have a totally different model. maybe they should have considered redfin, as they do have a substantially different model.