Hello,
I thought that anyone familiar with the Sunday Times weekly numbskulled coverage of IT issues would be amused by the following correspondance between myself and David Hewson, one of their columnists. The article that prompted my initial email was one speculating on how Microsoft's Portable Media Centres are ready to 'put the audio iPod in it's place':
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2776-1246876,00.html
In particular, note the instinctive FUD response to what was merely a small Apple-mentioning postscript to my initial email. Other info that may be relevant is that David Hewson is also a crime-writer, championed Tablet PCs on their launch, and appears from much of his journalistic output to loathe Apple.
No response to my last email as of yet...
1ST EMAIL:
Dear David,
I was interested to read your column in today's Sunday Times. However is lack of content really the main obstacle to PMCs replacing the iPod in the hearts of gadget fans? Surely the main problem is that, outside of medium to long distance flights, there really isn't much opportunity for Joe Blog to actually use the video functionality with any kind of regularity. By comparison, an MP3 player can be used almost anywhere, at any time. When considering a £500 investment (twice that of an iPod), surely it is unlikely that a product with such a small place in people's lives could become successful in the mass market.
Best wishes,
Nathan
P.S. It would be great to see Doors publish a feature on Apple's OSX operating system. So much space is dedicated every week to the problems associated with consumer use of Windows, that a decent evaluation of what is (for now) the only other truly viable home PC solution is long overdue.
MY SECOND EMAIL:
Thanks for your reply David.
With regards to the 97-98 per cent of Doors readers, it was them I was actually thinking of!
Mac users (a group which as you may have guessed, I have recently joined) have their own media, much as they have their own software alternatives. And as someone interested in I.T. generally, I will go to cross-platform news sources such as The Register or Ars Technica for in-depth reviews of potential new purchases such as Airport Express of the Power Mac G5.
However the vast majority of those currently afflicted by Windows will be unlikely to consider different operating systems until mainstream media outlets such as the Sunday Times treat the alternatives seriously, rather than with the mild disdain which Doors seems to have recently specialised in. I do understand that some members of the Doors team haven't received quite the attention they felt they deserved from Apple's PR and customer care departments. However I have found them to be very helpful. Just my two pence!
With regards PMCs, that is actually a pretty good price point, which I missed on my first read. I guess we'll have to wait a year or so, and see if they're as much of a success as Sony's 'Watchmen'! Or even the much-heralded Tablet PCs...remember those?
Best wishes,
Nathan
MY REPLY:
Hi David,
I was actually aware of your feelings toward Apple prior to writing my initial mail - although had I know the strength of them then I probably wouldn't have bothered!
I hope I'm not an evangelist; at least I don't think of myself as such. I think I made it clear in the postscript to my original email that I was hoping for a calm and fair appraisal of the alternatives to Windows, of which Apple's OS X is currently the most high profile. I think you've made it clear that it's not going to happen - although I am surprised at the venom of the reaction!
I hope that at least you are willing to set the hundreds of complaints you have received against Apple's consistent and well-known lead in customer satisfaction (accepted, this is a US survey - I couldn't find a UK equivalent):
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117530,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp
...and of course the huge growth that Apple is currently experiencing in the UK (not so many users abandoning the platform for Windows by these numbers):
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=7846
In conclusion, I would simply ask whether an operating system requiring the existence of a column called 'Don't Panic!' really deserves so much of your loyalty?
Best of luck with the criminal fiction - and, of course, with your novels! ;-)
Nathan
I thought that anyone familiar with the Sunday Times weekly numbskulled coverage of IT issues would be amused by the following correspondance between myself and David Hewson, one of their columnists. The article that prompted my initial email was one speculating on how Microsoft's Portable Media Centres are ready to 'put the audio iPod in it's place':
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2776-1246876,00.html
In particular, note the instinctive FUD response to what was merely a small Apple-mentioning postscript to my initial email. Other info that may be relevant is that David Hewson is also a crime-writer, championed Tablet PCs on their launch, and appears from much of his journalistic output to loathe Apple.
No response to my last email as of yet...
1ST EMAIL:
Dear David,
I was interested to read your column in today's Sunday Times. However is lack of content really the main obstacle to PMCs replacing the iPod in the hearts of gadget fans? Surely the main problem is that, outside of medium to long distance flights, there really isn't much opportunity for Joe Blog to actually use the video functionality with any kind of regularity. By comparison, an MP3 player can be used almost anywhere, at any time. When considering a £500 investment (twice that of an iPod), surely it is unlikely that a product with such a small place in people's lives could become successful in the mass market.
Best wishes,
Nathan
P.S. It would be great to see Doors publish a feature on Apple's OSX operating system. So much space is dedicated every week to the problems associated with consumer use of Windows, that a decent evaluation of what is (for now) the only other truly viable home PC solution is long overdue.
MY SECOND EMAIL:
Thanks for your reply David.
With regards to the 97-98 per cent of Doors readers, it was them I was actually thinking of!
Mac users (a group which as you may have guessed, I have recently joined) have their own media, much as they have their own software alternatives. And as someone interested in I.T. generally, I will go to cross-platform news sources such as The Register or Ars Technica for in-depth reviews of potential new purchases such as Airport Express of the Power Mac G5.
However the vast majority of those currently afflicted by Windows will be unlikely to consider different operating systems until mainstream media outlets such as the Sunday Times treat the alternatives seriously, rather than with the mild disdain which Doors seems to have recently specialised in. I do understand that some members of the Doors team haven't received quite the attention they felt they deserved from Apple's PR and customer care departments. However I have found them to be very helpful. Just my two pence!
With regards PMCs, that is actually a pretty good price point, which I missed on my first read. I guess we'll have to wait a year or so, and see if they're as much of a success as Sony's 'Watchmen'! Or even the much-heralded Tablet PCs...remember those?
Best wishes,
Nathan
MY REPLY:
Hi David,
I was actually aware of your feelings toward Apple prior to writing my initial mail - although had I know the strength of them then I probably wouldn't have bothered!
I hope I'm not an evangelist; at least I don't think of myself as such. I think I made it clear in the postscript to my original email that I was hoping for a calm and fair appraisal of the alternatives to Windows, of which Apple's OS X is currently the most high profile. I think you've made it clear that it's not going to happen - although I am surprised at the venom of the reaction!
I hope that at least you are willing to set the hundreds of complaints you have received against Apple's consistent and well-known lead in customer satisfaction (accepted, this is a US survey - I couldn't find a UK equivalent):
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117530,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp
...and of course the huge growth that Apple is currently experiencing in the UK (not so many users abandoning the platform for Windows by these numbers):
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=7846
In conclusion, I would simply ask whether an operating system requiring the existence of a column called 'Don't Panic!' really deserves so much of your loyalty?
Best of luck with the criminal fiction - and, of course, with your novels! ;-)
Nathan
