Well, yes, the sequence of the DNA was not artificial - it was derived from an existing bacteria. The point they are trying to make is that they created the DNA from scratch, not by using any existing biological systems from cells (such as DNA polymerase). That it was synthesized in a tube. This was possible on small scale for a long time and fairly cheaply too - I often order DNA primers 20-40 bases long for about 20 bucks. The trick is to piece together a huge number of small DNA fragments into one large chromosome. It is an astonishing technical accomplishment. But, as I said, the resulting basic science is not huge here.