Readers Write: Don't Write About John Dvorak Anymore

With my recent traveling, I've fallen far behind in various areas, including my email. In an effort to catch up, I started going through the replies on recent articles, including the reality check from early April entitled: John Dvorak: How Wrong Can One Guy Be?

Writing about Dvorak's absurdities is somewhat problematic for me because--like writing about Paul Thurrott--it ensures I will not be asked to participate in any Dvorak/Thurrott monopolized discussions.

Both seem desperate to claw their way on top of the dogpile of wags asking for $20,000 for speaking engagements, and they sure don’t want a troublemaker raining on that parade.

While I'm not really interested depriving Dvorak of his gravy train, I still like the idea of being about to spread my own version of what's going on, because I think the current conventional thinking frequently gets many of the details wrong, much of the time intentionally.

However, an even more problematic aspect of calling out Dvorak on his record of accuracy and integrity is that readers have associated Dvorak with Beetlejuice. Apparently, many people feel that any mention of his name gives him extra powers.

There is certainly a measure of truth in the idea that allowing people who really have nothing to say to monopolize the subjects of discussions really just prevents anything useful from being said. At the same time however, Dvorak is getting big bucks to say nothing, and no amount of ignoring him will change that.

The solution to most problems involves adding more information. With enough information, people can intelligently choose for themselves what to do. That's why I tend to write excessively long articles that try to hammer out as much information as possible.

If I were only trying to spin the news to cover up unpleasant truths, I could do so in short blog entries of talking points like Thurrott. Most recently, he laid out an expert honeypot that appeared designed specifically to trap me in writing an epic refutation: a rant on--of all things--Greenpeace and its Apple-centric fundraising drive.

What could be more tantalizing that taking apart a troll patting a fraud on the back? Alas, I'm too far behind to repeat all the stuff I already wrote on the subject.

Most interestingly however, nothing that Steve Jobs wrote in his 'Greener Apple' comments was really new or represented a change of plans for Apple. It was only designed to shrug off Greenpeace.

He may as well have just linked to my articles from September of last year, although it’s possible that Jobs does not read RoughlyDrafted.

Back to Dvoark

Is it worth it to call out FUD authors on their propaganda? Perhaps not.

Joachim Levelt writes, “I am a reader from the Netherlands and heavily interested in Apple. I really like your way of analyzing the industry, talking about the strategies of IT-firms, how standards influence the shape of the IT-industry. These articles are really 'meaty,' full of content and very interesting to read.

“Personally, I find the 'rantings' against other people not so hot, like the article on John Dvorak. it could be he is wrong, but there is already so much negativity in IT-blogs, especially around the Apple/Microsoft controversy.

“You would do me a pleasure by continuing producing great content, explaining the inner workings of the IT-industry (great articles on Quick Time, Final Cut and so on).”

In order to tie up the drawstrings and carry the final bit of waste out to the sidewalk for collection, perhaps I can turn the Dvorak rant over to a historical story that says more than I could write myself.

The Story of Vintage Type

It starts with Mark Thomas, an entrepreneur who set up his own font foundry called Vintage Type.

As Thomas describes, “Vintage Type originated as a simple shareware offering on America Online. I'm not really sure what year that was, but it was when hardly anyone knew what the web was, and even fewer were actually on the web. Even Adobe at that time had no meaningful web presence, instead focusing most of their attention on their AOL forum.

“I created my first font using Fontographer 3.4 back when it was still owned by Altsys. That font, called simply Vintage Typewriter, was a rather hastily made monospaced typewriter font sampled from an old Royal typewriter that I found in a local antiques store.

“I uploaded the font to the AOL Fonts forum under the name of my girlfriend, Susan Townsend, and the foundry name Hot Metal Type, and within days received my first shareware payment.

“Because at the time the Internet was fairly dominated by male geek types, I think that having uploaded the font under Susan's name made it an especially hot property and almost certainly contributed to its popularity. I followed Vintage Typewriter with a whole line of Vintage Typewriter fonts, as well as a handful of rather wacky display fonts, and eventually Susan herself contributed some expertly crafted Celtic designs.

“We eventually left AOL and built a proper web site, got the font sales automated through Digital River, and have been happily purring along ever since. I made a set of four pristine, hand-instructed (hinted) typewriter fonts aimed at screenwriters and authors looking for an alternative to Courier, a project which eventually lead to Final Draft Inc. commissioning Vintage Type to provide a set of hand-instructed Courier typewriter fonts for their screenwriting program.

“Vintage Type does not make a lot of money, but it makes enough to be a worthwhile endeavor.”

A Dear John Letter

Back in 1998, Thomas wrote Dvorak an email in response to one of his columns: “You used to write a mean but fairly honest column in MacUser, and I would read it every month because I enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy your story about the dream of Steve Jobs. It was dishonest.

“Apple has never made a decent laptop? The original PowerBooks are the laptops everybody else copied. The beautiful new G3 PowerBooks are fast, affordable, sturdy, and they run the Mac OS -- you can't buy a better laptop.

“Apple's image is fading? Thanks to guys like you, Apple's image is brighter than it's been in years. Nobody is as obsessed about Apple as the PC laptop-toting computer press. Every day I find a new anti-Apple or anti-Jobs article on the web.

“You say Mac users ‘treat the Mac as an idol’ and that ‘no Windows users or Unix hacks ever act this way.’ Yeah, except for all of them. The fanatical Unix hack who sneers at the Mac OS and laughs at NT is practically a proverb. The rampant boss who, in a fit of obsession, unreasonableness and stupidity, spends a year plotting his company's long-overdue and costly switch from Mac to Windows, only to have Microsoft squash them, is modern legend.

“Lies hurt Apple, and that, in turn, hurts me because I like their stuff and want to be able to keep buying it. I know lots of happy Mac users, and let me tell you something: not one of them is half the fanatic you are. I don't care if you hate Apple and Jobs and think your cheesy ThinkPad is the most neat-o gadget since the Palm Pilot. But I do care if you tell lies to people lame enough to believe you.

“Zombies may be slow and stupid, but if you get them all together and rile them up with half-truths and outright lies, they can really fuck it up for the people who still have a little life left in them. I like Macs -- they make my life happier. That counts for a lot.”

- Mark Thomas, Vintage Type

The Two Faces of Dvorak

Dvorak wrote back:

“I'm always amused by these comments as if I have never used a Mac OR a Mac laptop. Mac laptops have never been any good. They are either too damn big or poorly made. Pieces fall off. The battery goes dead too quickly. The screen isn't bright. I mean come on!!! It's a joke. The real problem is you Mac nuts have never really looked at GREAT PC notebook/laptop machines.”

- John C. Dvorak

www.dvorak.org

Many years later, Dvorak wrote Thomas again:

"Hi..I';d like to get a set of your typewriter fonts (vintage and normal). As you may or may not know I do write about font companies in general and have an idea for an article that involves your monospaced typewriter fonts. I can discuss this on the phone."

-John C. Dvorak

columnist, PC Magazine

Wow, what a legacy. Write garbage, smart off to your readers, then demand free stuff for them in exchange for some potential of writing about their business. This is the legacy of John C. Dvorak, who will say pretty much anything you want in exchange for something.

I don’t think he’s getting free fonts from Vintage Type though.

Given the other recent flip at PC World, and the quality of other IDG writers, it appears pretty clear that IDG and its various properties offer very little to readers. Everyone from freelance writers to columnists to editorial managers is busy cranking out self serving junk with little interest in actually informing readers. Who will?

Correction: Reader Brian Lane points out that Dvorak writes for PC Mag, which is a Ziff Davis magazine, not part of IDG. While IDG is culpable of many transgressions, it is ZD (and Marketwatch) that are primarily guilty for providing Dvorak with a podium. For the record, I find ZD, IDG, and CNET/ZDNet all equally noxious.

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