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John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

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Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#131

Post by vntok »

user5994461 wrote: post #116
Steko wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dvorak's greatest hits: "nobody wants a mouse", "Steve Jobs going the way of pet rocks", "cable modems are a dead end", "the mac is dead", "ipod is a niche product", "wikipedia is a dead end", "podcasting is a dead end", "linux is a dead end", "time to short apple", "the iphone's a flop", "ipad's a flop", "apple watch's a flop", etc.

What's wrong with these? It looks like the average click bait title to me.

Well they are all demonstrably wrong, that's what's kind of peculiar with this guy's production.

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#132

Post by NeedMoreTea »

bitwize wrote: post #73
mc32 wrote: post #30

This is really too bad. After 36 years, they don't have the courage and decency for a call. On a side note, I had always assumed 'Dvorak' was a penname --however, I've learned he's actually related to the actual Dvorak Keyboard creator.

You may be confusing him with Robert X. Cringely, which is a pen name.

Of course Dvorak was one of the writers on the Cringely column.

So confusion is to be expected. :)

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#133

Post by redm »

ordinaryperson wrote: post #107

About 12 years ago I was working for a PC Magazine competitor when they cut the Managing Editor loose, a man who'd worked there 20+ years and was in his late 50s. I ran into him in the bathroom, tears in his eyes, asking me what he was going to do now? That this is how they reward decades of loyalty? Ironically that magazine, dedicated to predicting future technology trends, would go down the toilet some years later…

"Companies have no loyalty folks...neither should you."

That's a broad brush to paint with; companies are just a group of people, not some inhuman construct. People make the decisions and just like every other aspect of life, some people care don't put their impact on others first, or can't because of circumstances. Not every company discards employees like garbage, and it's a lousy narrative to propagate.

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#134

Post by Consultant32452 »

GW150914 wrote: post #125
Consultant32452 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if any modern Frederick Douglass' are being deplatformed. It's nice to imagine that if I lived in 1863 that I would recognize that Douglass was on the right side of history, but statistically that is unlikely. I highly doubt you would recognize a Frederick Douglass either, if I could manage to point one out. That is why everyone must be allowed to speak. If I find someone that I think is an Alex Jones, a…

What I don't do though is tell you that you're not allowed to listen to them either. No one has said that about Jones, not Apple, or Youtube, and certainly not PayPal. They chose not to publish him or process his payments, and that’s all. In the same way that a book publisher doesn’t owe anyone a book, a radio station isn’t obligated to allow everyone who wants to be a DJ on the air, and TV stations don’t owe anyone…

For better or worse the public square now exists on FB, Youtube, and Twitter. I haven't suggested that the government should come in and force any of those companies to do business with anyone. I'm more closely suggesting that these companies are doing the modern equivalent to book burning and no one seems concerned about that.

This isn't just far right nutjobs. Youtube decided to delete every single pro-Syrian channel recently which happened to coincide with the battle for Idlib. Apparently Youtube decided anyone opposing the war of aggression being conducted by the US is "Alex Jones" territory. Alex Jones just happened to be pretty famous. Lots of smaller people are being deplatformed, it just doesn't make the news.

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#135

Post by osrec »

redm wrote: post #133
ordinaryperson wrote: post #107

About 12 years ago I was working for a PC Magazine competitor when they cut the Managing Editor loose, a man who'd worked there 20+ years and was in his late 50s. I ran into him in the bathroom, tears in his eyes, asking me what he was going to do now? That this is how they reward decades of loyalty? Ironically that magazine, dedicated to predicting future technology trends, would go down the toilet some years later…

"Companies have no loyalty folks...neither should you." That's a broad brush to paint with; companies are just a group of people, not some inhuman construct. People make the decisions and just like every other aspect of life, some people care don't put their impact on others first, or can't because of circumstances. Not every company discards employees like garbage, and it's a lousy narrative to propagate.

Usually when you have groups of people trying to maximise their own gains, selfishness and ruthlessness tend to dominate the group.

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#136

Post by dghughes »

ordinaryperson wrote: post #107

About 12 years ago I was working for a PC Magazine competitor when they cut the Managing Editor loose, a man who'd worked there 20+ years and was in his late 50s. I ran into him in the bathroom, tears in his eyes, asking me what he was going to do now? That this is how they reward decades of loyalty? Ironically that magazine, dedicated to predicting future technology trends, would go down the toilet some years later…

Thre's also the "faux friend" situation too. The people you work with have to get along with you but they are not your friends. If you're laid off you'll probably never heard from any of them ever again.

And HR isn't your friend either. Many young people misunderstand the role of HR and believe it is a shoulder to cry on. Think of HR as just another company product or tool.

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#137

Post by Hamuko »

Steko wrote: post #35
bredren wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read this guy back in the 90s. I think he put down mp3s. I think I emailed him and told him he was on the wrong side of that.

Dvorak's greatest hits: "nobody wants a mouse", "Steve Jobs going the way of pet rocks", "cable modems are a dead end", "the mac is dead", "ipod is a niche product", "wikipedia is a dead end", "podcasting is a dead end", "linux is a dead end", "time to short apple", "the iphone's a flop", "ipad's a flop", "apple watch's a flop", etc.

Apple Watch isn't a flop?

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#138

Post by skh »

redm wrote: post #133
ordinaryperson wrote: post #107

About 12 years ago I was working for a PC Magazine competitor when they cut the Managing Editor loose, a man who'd worked there 20+ years and was in his late 50s. I ran into him in the bathroom, tears in his eyes, asking me what he was going to do now? That this is how they reward decades of loyalty? Ironically that magazine, dedicated to predicting future technology trends, would go down the toilet some years later…

"Companies have no loyalty folks...neither should you." That's a broad brush to paint with; companies are just a group of people, not some inhuman construct. People make the decisions and just like every other aspect of life, some people care don't put their impact on others first, or can't because of circumstances. Not every company discards employees like garbage, and it's a lousy narrative to propagate.

What you write is true but one can never know for sure if you are in a nice company. Even if you are in a nice company today you don’t it will remain nice. You don’t know what economic factors will occur that may turn the company culture toxic. The company may be bought out tomorrow and new management might suck.

Since you can’t know that these possibilities won’t occur it’s best to keep the mindset that the company is not your friend. They do not have loyalty to you in perpetuity. It’s a business and not a person. It’s run by people but the more people it is being run by the easier it is for them emotionally to treat everything in business terms.

Do not have loyalty to a company. It’s just business and not personal.

Re: John Dvorak: “Yesterday I was fired from PC Magazine”

#139

Post by [deleted] »

itbeho wrote: post #129
daveFNbuck wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never seen a problem with coworkers who loudly support any of these causes at VC backed SV companies. One of my coworkers posted about how happy he was about King Trump winning the election. He was promoted and later hired at another VC-backed SV company.

Great! Please share a link to the post. I’d be happy to be proven wrong.

[deleted]
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