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Dvorak says not-entirely-negative things about the Mac; the end times are nigh
MacUser ^
| Jul. 26, ’07
| Dan Moren
Posted on 07/26/2007 12:43:36 PM PDT by Swordmaker
If you look back through the archives, youll see that I havent linked to tech curmudgeon John C. Dvorak since his admission in June of last year that he deliberately taunts Mac users in order to get traffic. As much as I like churning out point-by-point rebuttals of Dvoraks FUD, I decided that he didnt really need our help to bolster his readership. And so that was that.
Until today, when I was walking down the street and passed a dog which whispered to me: Hey, buddy, the skys falling. Dogs dont ordinarily talk to me, so you can bet your vintage Queen LP collection that I looked up. And sure enough, the sky was falling; and emblazoned upon it in clouds of fire was one sentence.
John Dvorak is using a Mac.
There were screams; there was general panic in the streets. Nobody knew precisely what was going on, but the consensus seemed to be that the horsemen of the Apocalypse had decided to finish up their afternoon lattes at Starbucks and commence the end of all things. Pamphlets were being circulated plastered with Dvoraks grumpy mug and choice quotes like First of all, the machine is not half bad. I havent seen disruption on this level since at least last weeks Harry Potter release.
Things have calmed down a bit since, as it sunk in that Dvorak wouldnt be switching to a Mac full time. But if nothing else, it is a damining piece of ammunition for the next time Mr. Grumpypants sets out to harangue Mac users.
Whats next? David Maynor and George Ou admitting that the wireless hack was all a hoax? According to my Dashboard widget, the forecast calls for cloudy with an occasional chance of brimstone, so I guess anything is possible.
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS:
To: 1234; 50mm; 6SJ7; Abundy; Action-America; af_vet_rr; afnamvet; akatel; Alexander Rubin; Amadeo; ...
Hell Freezes over, Pigs Fly, next thing we know Democrats will be voting for tax cuts... John C. Dvorak praises Macs... sort of... PING!
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
2
posted on
07/26/2007 12:49:33 PM PDT
by
Swordmaker
(Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE)
To: Calvinist_Dark_Lord; zeugma; Swordmaker
Dvorak-using-a-Mac-it's-the-Apocalypse ping...
One of the wittier blog entries. And it skewer Dvorak just about right. If there is such a thing as a professional troll and false prophet, it's Dvorak.
If PC Guy on the Mac commercials ever quits (or has a heart attack from scary articles like this), Apple will have to hire Dvorak to replace. Talk about typecasting...
3
posted on
07/26/2007 12:57:03 PM PDT
by
George W. Bush
(Rudy: tough on terror, scared of Iowa)
To: George W. Bush
If there is such a thing as a professional troll and false prophet, it's L.Ron Paul.
4
posted on
07/26/2007 12:59:24 PM PDT
by
Petronski
(Just say no to Rudy McRomney.)
To: Swordmaker
Not only is he using it, he’s recommending it.
5
posted on
07/26/2007 1:04:25 PM PDT
by
Tribune7
(Live Earth: Pretend to Care)
To: Swordmaker
I seem to have LOST track. Isn’t there a technology COLUMNIST who likes to INSERT capitalized words for basically NO reason all through HIS columns? I thought IT was Dvorak but his LATEST column doesn’t show this TICK.
6
posted on
07/26/2007 1:13:25 PM PDT
by
ClearCase_guy
(Progressives like to keep doing the things that didn't work in the past.)
To: Swordmaker
From deep in the article...
as someone who does recommend gear to people, I have to think to myself, "Should I recommend something that will come back to haunt me, or recommend a Mac with its higher price but lower hassle factor?" The answer is simple. I hate the idea of having to do customer service for people who cannot keep their systems clean, and that's most people.
7
posted on
07/26/2007 1:21:40 PM PDT
by
tubebender
(My first great grandson is a Miniature Schnauzer...)
To: ClearCase_guy
There was such a columnist at one time, but I can’t recall which one. I don’t think it was Dvorak. Maybe it was the old Robert X. Cringely, or Spencer F. Katt, or Adam Osborne.
8
posted on
07/26/2007 2:31:44 PM PDT
by
HAL9000
To: Swordmaker
Dvorak was the original “Contributing Anti-Editor” at MacUser many years ago. He may have been using Macs all along.
9
posted on
07/26/2007 2:33:05 PM PDT
by
HAL9000
To: Petronski
Dvorak, is that you? LOL.
10
posted on
07/26/2007 2:48:17 PM PDT
by
George W. Bush
(Rudy: tough on terror, scared of Iowa)
To: tubebender
The answer is simple. I hate the idea of having to do customer service for people who cannot keep their systems clean, and that's most people.
Exactly. I can clean 'em up and I'm good at it. I just don't want to any more. These blasted things are supposed to make our lives easier, darn it!
11
posted on
07/26/2007 2:50:36 PM PDT
by
George W. Bush
(Rudy: tough on terror, scared of Iowa)
To: Swordmaker
Who’s next? Maybe Steve Ballmer??
To: Swordmaker
And sure enough, the sky was falling; and emblazoned upon it in clouds of fire was one sentence. "John Dvorak is using a Mac."
He's used Macs for years, just not exclusively so. He wrote the "Devil's Advocate" column for the last page of MacUser, and did that for a number of years. :')
13
posted on
07/26/2007 10:49:31 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Profile updated Thursday, July 26, 2007 https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: SunkenCiv
John Dvorak stopped using Macs way before OS X...
14
posted on
07/26/2007 11:08:29 PM PDT
by
Swordmaker
(Remember, the proper pronunciation of IE is "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE)
To: Swordmaker
People still take Dvorak seriously?
Years ago (geez, must be 12 to 15 years ago) Dvorak wrote a book of his predictions for the tech industry. (I can't find it on Amazon at the moment, and i don't recall the actual title.)
Anyway, I picked it up as a gift for a friend who was always a die hard Apple lover, but didn't want to miss out on the games for the PC and had just purchased his first 386.
A few years later I asked my friend about the book, and he said that Dvorak was 0 for 25 on his predictions so far.
It was about that time that I started reading Dvorak's column with a little more thought behind it. He does tend to be wrong quite often.
I've since given up on PC Magazine. If I'm jonesing for PC news I'll read Maximum PC.
15
posted on
07/27/2007 9:55:52 AM PDT
by
MovieMogul
(I hate it when there's a typo in my tagline.)
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