John C. Dvorak, an Early and Influential Technology Journalist, Dies At 80 (talkingbiznews.com)
- Reference: 0184649216
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/07/24/1650239/john-c-dvorak-an-early-and-influential-technology-journalist-dies-at-80
- Source link: https://talkingbiznews.com/media-news/dvorak-early-tech-journalist-dies-at-80/
> Aric Mackey [3]writes , "Widely recognized for his profound impact on the technology industry, John's career spanned decades of rapid digital evolution. He was perhaps best known for his influential, long-running column in PC Magazine and his groundbreaking work on the No Agenda podcast. Through his prolific writing, broadcasting, and distinct public voice, he helped shape critical conversations around both technology and political analysis, guiding generations of readers and listeners with his unique perspective.
>
> "To those who knew him personally, John was far more than his public work. He was a beloved husband, devoted father, proud grandfather, and a loyal friend. Those closest to him will remember a man defined by his strong convictions, his exceptionally sharp wit, and an enduring curiosity about the world around him."
Dvorak was also part of the startup team at CNET Networks, and appeared on MarketWatch TV.
[1] https://slashdot.org/~sandbagger
[2] https://talkingbiznews.com/media-news/dvorak-early-tech-journalist-dies-at-80/
[3] https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BW89ZXNHv/
Watched him for years (Score:5, Interesting)
Loved his gruff no nonsense style.
This week in tech, Cranky Geeks and of course No Agenda.
He wasn't always right, but he was funny.
Re: (Score:2)
Did he and Leo ever reconcile, I recall they had a falling out at some point.
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I don't think they did, which honestly is a shame as they had wonderful chemistry together.
Looking at his various social media timelines, he's made no mention of Dvorak's passing.
Re: (Score:2)
Looks like he found out on a Windows Weekly podcast
TWiT (Score:3)
I stopped listening to TWiT not too long after they kicked Dvorak off. I think Leo didn't like him arguing about stuff. After he left, Leo would bring up a news item, the guests would say "Yeah that's cool" and they'd move on.
Not everything has to be drama-filled nonsense, but maybe a different perspective or two would be nice.
Re: (Score:2)
I do enjoy the JJ Stone episodes for this reason.
I love when Cory Doctorow is on too, but that is growing increasingly rare as he becomes a bigger name.
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Leo mentioned his passing in real time on the Windows Weekly pod earlier this week.
Leo, along with co-hosts Paul Thourrott and Richard Campbell spent a good amount of time reminiscing.
It sounds like the falling out was more about money than it was about anything else.
I think he was journalist (Score:4, Interesting)
You don't make friends when you're a real journalist. They aren't likeable, thats what a real journalist is like, critical thinkers.I thought he brought a slightly jaundiced, but fair point of view to tech reporting. Used to watch his talk show on the web before it was called a podcast, circa... what 2000? really seems like along time ago.... with 3 guest panel discussing tech. I'll miss him.
Wow (Score:2)
He was one of the reasons I used to subscribe to PC Magazine. He was very good at picking out the frauds invthe early days.
Stories (Score:5, Interesting)
He got his start writing a wine column, but his editors noticed he was using a computer to do it, and put him on the fledgling computer beat in San Francisco. He has killer stories. Calling up Microsoft for information on a story at 9PM on a Friday and having Bill Gates answer the phone. Competing industry parties on mega-yachts. Producers at CNET-TV, before TechTV/G4TV, having no idea what they were doing. He'll be missed.
One of the better tech journalists (Score:3)
I remember reading his articles in the late 90's and I have to admit that I got to like his style.
The one I remember the most (which unfortunately I cannot locate anymore) is an article about, well, the 90's.
The gist of it was "good riddance to the 90s". He was particularly critical of the wars of that decade in which high-tech, remote-controlled weapons were just starting to appear.
Therefore he referred to them as "the joystick wars". Too bad the term did not catch on on mainstream media.
Re: One of the better tech journalists (Score:1)
I fondly remember an article he wrote mocking the gui interfaces that were becoming so popular back then, he clinched his mockery in a story about a 'lost tribe' that was found on an uncharted Polynesian island, and they did everything as if the lived in a GUI interface, moving a pointer around to do things, etc.
I also remember when the first iPhone came out, he had his table full of tech pundits/execs, and he calls out "who has an iPhone?" And one person throws their new iPhone on the table and John picked
nutcase (Score:4, Informative)
I stopped listening to No Agenda when it became clear JCD was a Sandy Hook denialist.
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What an asshole. Chalk it up to growing up with leaded gasoline and paint chips.
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Cite? Can't tell if you're serious.
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I can't find a single shred of evidence this is the case. Doing some web searches I can see a few people stating that he's a Sandy Hook denier, but I haven't come across one single link or actual quote to back up the claim. Can you provide some actual citations?
RIP John (Score:1)
An old graybeard here always looked forward to your PC Magazine rants in the 80's.
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Another graybeard here who remembers.
He was a BBS friend... (Score:1)
I had a lot of contact with him back in my BBS days (The Mog-ur's EMS) from 1980 to 2000.
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May he RIP, your BFF on the EMS BBS until Y2K.
His greatest invention (Score:3, Funny)
The legendary keyboard layout he invented will always be remembered. When your colleague was away from his desk you could fuck him up by typing xdvorak on their terminal.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Not to mention his important contributions to classical music.
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I had no idea!
> He is a nephew of sociologist August Dvorak, creator of the Dvorak keyboard.[2]
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Dvorak#Early_life
some fun quotes (Score:5, Funny)
The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a “mouse.” There is no evidence that people want to use these things. — John C. Dvorak, 1984
Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone What Apple risks here is its reputation as a hot company that can do no wrong. If it’s smart it will call the iPhone a ‘reference design’ and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else’s marketing budget. Then it can wash its hands of any marketplace failures Otherwise I’d advise people to cover their eyes. You are not going to like what you’ll see. — John C. Dvorak, 2007
iPhone which doesn’t look, I mean to me, I’m looking at this thing and I think it’s kind of trending against, you know, what’s really going, what people are really liking on, in these phones nowadays, which are those little keypads. I mean, the Blackjack from Samsung, the Blackberry, obviously, you know kind of pushes this thing, the Palm, all these And I guess some of these stocks went down on the Apple announcement, thinking that Apple could do no wrong, but I think Apple can do wrong and I think this is it. — John C. Dvorak, 2007
The Apple iPad is not going to be the company’s next runaway best seller. — John C. Dvorak, 2010
Within the decade, Microsoft should have a minimum of 300 stores. They should do as well as the Apple Stores. — John C. Dvorak, 2012
Google OS and browser (Score:3)
Over 20 years ago he was predicting a Google browser and OS
[1]https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
"Google browser and Google-OS may soon be coming to a cluster near you"
What ever happened to that/
[1] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/05/01/27/2239245/google-planning-web-browser
Some early Dvorak work (Score:2)
Here's some of Dvorak's early work, when he was pitching CP/M software in the late 1970s: [1]https://archive.org/details/dv... [archive.org]
[1] https://archive.org/details/dvoraksoftwarereview
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
you're a loudmouth who's wrong about everything
Re:He was a loud-mouth (Score:4, Insightful)
Mocking Dvorak used to be a favorite Slashdot pastime, back in the day. We forgot about it when we got too busy mocking Cringely. It was exactly because he was constantly wrong.
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just regular joe talk, here not interested in a bunch of name calling..
I don't recall him being so wrong about things. Cranky Geeks, that was the show I used to watch/listen.
I thought between him and the guests it was informative and interesting to hear what they were saying down in silicon valley.
I guess I wasnt hanging around here much at that time... I used to go by fuzz500, but I couldn't get the UID back when I returned here to kick ass I was so bored during the pandemic. I was a 6 digit dude like you.
How quickly they forget (Score:2)
Not to feed the trolls or propagate their vacuous Subjects.
But my Subject is double-headed. The relevant head involves my reaction to such a passing... I didn't remember that he wrote any books, but I hoped I might have read something he edited... Came up dry.
So my next step is to check in the local libraries for some of his stuff that I could read in memoriam, so to speak. Again came up dry.
But he was such a famous fellow that I wanted to go farther... I checked the NDL (Japan's version of the LoC) and cam