Yeah they are very similar services, and while Battlelog isn't quite as feature rich it does have the added feather in its cap of being free. My own experiences with it were far from smooth though, especially at the beginning of the beta. On PC early on there were a lot of problems with the party system too but EA pulled their heads together quickly and got it sorted though which I applaud. I just hope IW/Activision do the same for Elite.
My main point was and is that launching an online service, especially a cross platform one can't be easy and a lot of other very big publishers have got it wrong with their games.
Yes, I'm 100% with you guys that given the money they pull in Activision should have been on it like the proverbial car bonnet when it came to launching Elite and its obvious they weren't, that issue should be raised by gamers paying for the service and the gaming press alike though not just because it's cool to hate on MW3 this week. Not that I'm saying you're doing that either, not at all! It's just the vibe all over the internet at the moment, toys are being thrown from prams by people who were never going to buy the game or pay for Elite anyway and I don't see the point tbh, it's all very "my e-peen's bigger than yours".