Yes, of course they did what D-wave calls quantum annealing. As you say, that's all the D-Wave machines can do.
The D-Wave executive's claim that the problems used in the study are "not at all the right choice for probing a quantum speedup" is in reference to the specific subtypes of quantum annealing problems that this study looked at, not whether they were doing quantum annealing at all.
Comments
Yes, of course they did what D-wave calls quantum annealing. As you say, that's all the D-Wave machines can do.
The D-Wave executive's claim that the problems used in the study are "not at all the right choice for probing a quantum speedup" is in reference to the specific subtypes of quantum annealing problems that this study looked at, not whether they were doing quantum annealing at all.