The difference, as I see it, is that even I can afford Barron's or IBD, nor do Barron's or IBD manipulate prices in real time as the NYT article accuses the software of doing. It was not my original contention that this is insider trading, but please keep in mind that Goldman has admitted to federal prosecutors that its software is capable of manipulating markets, and that it uses this software for all of its trades.
It's not the software oir its speed of execution, but whether you a deliberately moving the prices around without the intent to sell at that price.
The latter would be market manipulation, but putting small orders in where you are still exposed, even if you plan on cancelling them is not.
You guys know too that many MM's get paid in part based on the volume they bring to the exchange, so they get part of the exchange's transaction fees. This means they can deliberately make what looks like a 'losing' quote to pull in volume at a 'loss' that turns into a profit based on the transaction fees paid by the exchange back to the MM.
In brief, don't pick a strategy based on speed, unless you can invest $30 million in equipment & software to keep up with the big boys.