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Google's Inevitable Ruin Begins

pcmag.com

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Re: Google's Inevitable Ruin Begins

#51

Post by dasil003 »

tingley wrote: post #36
ergo98 wrote: post #21

Dvorak could legitimately be described as a professional troll. "you get over 20 pages of large thumbnails all on the same huge page....And because thousands of useless large thumbnails are loaded, a huge waste of user bandwidth takes place each time." Beware commenting on things you don't understand, because often it just makes you look like a fool. In this case, Dvorak apparently didn't notice that while all of the…

Dvorak could legitimately be described as a professional troll. Stopping right here to reminisce for a minute. When I was a kid, my parents bought me a subscription to MacUser magazine, because I was glued to our old 512. I would read the issues cover to cover. (I have particularly vivid memories of the April 1987 issue, which unveiled the Mac SE, the original Mac II, and the release of Dark Castle.) Dvorak had a col…

> At some point he stopped writing the column

Wasn't he around til the bitter end of MacUser when they folded or merged with MacWorld or whatever?

Re: Google's Inevitable Ruin Begins

#52

Post by drivebyacct2 »

corin_ wrote: post #42

Agree with the many other people commenting here that the article was full of nonsense. And the idea that these changes spell "Google's inevitable ruin" is pretty hilarious. That said, I do hate the changes. I found the old image search far nicer to use. The most important negative change is that when looking for an image, I like to open up multiple options in new tabs, sort of making a shortlist from which to chose…

>With the new version of Google images, the images don't become actual hyperlinks until you have hovered over them for about a second, so there's a considerable delay when trying to open multiple images in new tabs quickly.

That is patently untrue.

[source: I just tried. I middle-clicked as many links as I could as fast as I could. Each one resulted in a new tab instantly]

Re: Google's Inevitable Ruin Begins

#53

Post by corin_ »

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #52
corin_ wrote: post #42

Agree with the many other people commenting here that the article was full of nonsense. And the idea that these changes spell "Google's inevitable ruin" is pretty hilarious. That said, I do hate the changes. I found the old image search far nicer to use. The most important negative change is that when looking for an image, I like to open up multiple options in new tabs, sort of making a shortlist from which to chose…

>With the new version of Google images, the images don't become actual hyperlinks until you have hovered over them for about a second, so there's a considerable delay when trying to open multiple images in new tabs quickly. That is patently untrue. [source: I just tried. I middle-clicked as many links as I could as fast as I could. Each one resulted in a new tab instantly]

I just tried in Chrome and it's as you said. In Firefox, however, it's a different story (and FF is my primary browser.)

Re: Google's Inevitable Ruin Begins

#54

Post by dasil003 »

Flagged. Anything with Dvorak's name should be auto-flagged. If he ever raises an argument that's credible to the HN audience than that means he failed his own quality criteria: that is to write a specious argument designed to appeal to the uninformed reader but that fails any sort of detailed analysis so hard that anyone with half a clue who reads it will be compelled to debunk it and thus angrily drive traffic to the article.

Re: Google's Inevitable Ruin Begins

#55

Post by tingley »

dasil003 wrote: post #51
tingley wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dvorak could legitimately be described as a professional troll. Stopping right here to reminisce for a minute. When I was a kid, my parents bought me a subscription to MacUser magazine, because I was glued to our old 512. I would read the issues cover to cover. (I have particularly vivid memories of the April 1987 issue, which unveiled the Mac SE, the original Mac II, and the release of Dark Castle.) Dvorak had a col…

> At some point he stopped writing the column Wasn't he around til the bitter end of MacUser when they folded or merged with MacWorld or whatever?

Maybe? I'm not sure. I remember Andy Inhatko having the back page for a while, and some other people as well, but I don't remember where those things fall in the timeline w.r.t the merge with MacWorld.

Re: Google's Inevitable Ruin Begins

#56

Post by anigbrowl »

Some valid usability criticisms, swamped in less useful ones and linkbaity headers. I actually agree that some of the new features are a little too bandwidth hungry, but am OK with that because I want to see greater demand for last mile broadband on the west coast. Reading about the speeds available on FIOS makes me cry.

I'm surprised he didn't take a few stabs at Google News, which really does have fundamental problems. He has touched on them [1] but the criticisms are rather shallow and miss the mark.

1. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2363874,00.asp.

I don't like seeing Dvorak called a troll. Disclosure: I wrote for PC Mag in London for a while, so there's a bit of collegiality at work, but I've always seen him as a gadfly - a literary nickname for the horsefly, an annoying creature that buzzes and has a painful bite, but which perform useful functions of pollination, providing forensic evidence, and contribute to the weeding out evolutionary misfits. Trolls (by my definition) deliberately seek to mislead or irritate others for amusement's sake - occasionally everyone's, but usually only their own. Dvorak honestly thinks the things he complains about are broken, even if he's often wrong about how, why or what extent. He is the Ur-User :-)

Re: Google's Inevitable Ruin Begins

#57

Post by dasil003 »

tingley wrote: post #55
dasil003 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At some point he stopped writing the column Wasn't he around til the bitter end of MacUser when they folded or merged with MacWorld or whatever?

Maybe? I'm not sure. I remember Andy Inhatko having the back page for a while, and some other people as well, but I don't remember where those things fall in the timeline w.r.t the merge with MacWorld.

Also, wrt to Dark Castle, were you aware that Return to Dark Castle was released for OS X a couple years ago, runs great on 10.6, includes both original games plus a ton of new levels that full capture the spirit of the originals?

http://www.superhappyfunfun.com/games/gam_returntodc.html

Re: Google's Inevitable Ruin Begins

#58

Post by Stevenup7002 »

ergo98 wrote: post #21

Dvorak could legitimately be described as a professional troll. "you get over 20 pages of large thumbnails all on the same huge page....And because thousands of useless large thumbnails are loaded, a huge waste of user bandwidth takes place each time." Beware commenting on things you don't understand, because often it just makes you look like a fool. In this case, Dvorak apparently didn't notice that while all of the…

>> Dvorak could legitimately be described as a professional troll. Dvorak is notorious for having an overly negative outlook on things. "Why would I want to use a mouse?" "I don't like the idea of having the power button on the front instead of the back" "The iPad will never sell 5,000,000 units in less than a year.. that's insane"

Re: Google's Inevitable Ruin Begins

#59

Post by tingley »

dasil003 wrote: post #57
tingley wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe? I'm not sure. I remember Andy Inhatko having the back page for a while, and some other people as well, but I don't remember where those things fall in the timeline w.r.t the merge with MacWorld.

Also, wrt to Dark Castle, were you aware that Return to Dark Castle was released for OS X a couple years ago, runs great on 10.6, includes both original games plus a ton of new levels that full capture the spirit of the originals? http://www.superhappyfunfun.com/games/gam_returntodc.html

I was! But unfortunately I have not had a Mac since 2000 or so. I should really commandeer my brother's laptop next time he's in town. Maybe over the holidays.

Re: Google's Inevitable Ruin Begins

#60

Post by InclinedPlane »

ergo98 wrote: post #21

Dvorak could legitimately be described as a professional troll. "you get over 20 pages of large thumbnails all on the same huge page....And because thousands of useless large thumbnails are loaded, a huge waste of user bandwidth takes place each time." Beware commenting on things you don't understand, because often it just makes you look like a fool. In this case, Dvorak apparently didn't notice that while all of the…

I never understood why anyone would take anything Dvorak says seriously. His track record is a joke, his grasp of technology is tenuous at best.
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