The Dvorak Strikes Back - At OS X


Dear John Dvorak has done it again. Now he's written a column which kicks off with "Isn't it about time the Macintosh was simply discontinued--put down like an old dog?"

You can see where this is heading. Look, I know we all have to get a check these days, but really - where's the self-respect.

Believe it or not, in the 1980s, John Dvorak was a good journalist. A respectable one. His column (in MacUser, I think), was one of many incisive, sharp-edged, perceptive commentaries that inhabited that (then) very thick monthly.

Dvorak used to write tough commentary. I remember one dealing with Jobs' introduction of the NeXT, and Jobs appeared at a trade show with Gates and Scully, touting his 'third' platform. I remember his story assessing Apple's knifing of Adobe over PostScript and handing Microsoft the TrueType blades, with with Microsoft would slash Apple with its Windows 3.0 release. "What's Apple getting out of this?" Dvorak asked. "Why does Apple need Microsoft"?

I own a pretty good book he wrote in the 1980s, a sort of smaller Mac Bible, which was a reasonable tome by the standards of the day. Now he pedals this:

"I'm not writing this column as a Mac basher to get attention."

Yes you are, John. You protest too much. If Macintosh is so unimportant to you, what do you care what happens to Apple? Write about PCs. If Apple is so unimportant, why do you devote so many column inches to iToilets and the like? What on earth is in it for you? It's not like your book's in print anymore or anything.

It's one thing to accuse Apple of having had no ideas since 1984. But it's not something you exactly make a habit of accusing yourself of, is it? Personally, I think it's just a little sad that someone who was a good writer has to whore themselves just to get a few hits from outraged Mac afficionados who bother to join your, er, 'forum'.

Analysis: I've got an idea to bring Apple and Dvorak together. Forever. They never will part. And they can have it for absolutely nothing, diddly:

New from Apple:
The iDvorak
At 100mph, the only thing you can hear is the columnist whining.