The way McDonalds makes its fries isn't a secret. They let Food Network film part of a documentary on fried food in one of their french fry factories, and showed the entire process from potato to frozen product ready to ship. It was basically cleaning and sizing (large potatoes cut in half), shot through pipes by water pressure with a grate on the end of the pipe that cuts the potato into fries, steamed to make the inside fluffy, then fried twice at two temperatures.
That's kind of like saying that the way Google processes mail for Google Mail isn't a secret. It's not, but knowing how "it's done" and knowing how they "actually do it" are two different things.
I think the point is around things like "What temperature do you fry at?", "How hot should the steam bath be?", etc. The details make all the difference.
While that may be true, the interesting thing about this article is that it presents a recipe that can be reproduced in an average kitchen. I'm no chef, so I don't know if this has done before, but if it hasn't, it's pretty cool.
