5 ms·

Am I interpreting correctly when I say that she is a blogger that happens to specialize in Microsoft? If so, big deal: She knows how to get the hits. At first

by ergo98 16y ago

Am I interpreting correctly when I say that she is a blogger that happens to specialize in Microsoft? If so, big deal: She knows how to get the hits. At first read I thought it was saying she was a paid evangelist for Microsoft.

bradleyland 16y ago
Based on most of her writing, you couldn't be criticized for thinking she was a paid Microsoft evangelist. Outside of Paul Thurrott, she's probably the best candidate for a Microsoft-oriented equivalent of John Gruber.
- gizmomagico 16y ago
  Oh please. Gruber isn't a blind fanboy. Daniel Eran Dilger, on the other hand, while really insightful, can't seem to find anything wrong with anything Apple does.
  - ergo98 16y ago
    >Gruber isn't a blind fanboy. Just my personal opinion, but I find Gruber to be far worse than a blind fanboy: He just comes across as someone who raised their flag and damnit, he's sticking with it hell or high water, like some small town sports fan railing to anyone who'll listen why their chosen team is the best and everyone else is second rate. Over and over again. Where he takes on anything other than the official corporate line of Apple he does so only under incredible duress, when he's the only one against an industry and his fanaticism is too obvious. He made a jibe recently about how he'll be getting a big payola check from Cupertino for all of his defenses of Apple lately: Honestly, I would think 100x more of the guy if he did. Just went there for a moment to see the first item is "Android 2.2 Handily Beats iOS4 in JavaScript Benchmarks". Great, even handed, right? Yet in true Gruber style he adds "which isn’t possible under iOS 4.0 because of a security feature where once a page in memory is marked writeable, it can never be made executable. It’s a nice security feature, but one that comes at the expense of significant potential performance gains.". Android makes very heavy use of the NX bit as well. Only, just like with iOS, they can and do circumvent that when the need arises. Saying that iOS can't do this is utterly asinine. And you can be sure that iOS will do this, it's just that web performance hasn't been a top priority for the platform. The next n-stories are all pretty much the same thing -- Apple is maligned and unfairly trodden upon. Android is stinky poo-poo, and on and on. It's unpalatable to all but the faithful.
    - gizmomagico 16y ago
      I don't know about that, but Gruber's pointed out lots of bullshit App Store rejections, for example. It's always seemed to me like he just calls them as he sees them.
- mustpax 16y ago
  Gruber has a knack toeing the Apple line, but you have to give him more credit than that. He bothers to lay out clear arguments in his posts, and I've yet to see him write something as contentless as this piece. I mean, what the hell is this: But I never wanted to be part of the Apple community because I have had so many negative, hostile and condescending interactions with not just Apple fanboys, but regular Apple users. If that’s what “thinking different” was, I wanted no parts. And she's bemoaning the lack of Internet Explorer on the iPad. Why, exactly? I’d love to see Internet Explorer, Firefox and the Zune software (Microsoft’s iTunes equivalent) be ported to the iPad.
  - bradleyland 16y ago
    Don't get me wrong. I think Gruber would pummel either of these two hacks in an argument, and I enjoy his writing while Mary Jo makes me want to gouge my eyes out, but you have to admit that sometimes, no matter how well formed his argument, John really works his ass off to find a defensible position for Apple.
    - _xentek 16y ago
      He may advocate them, but he's clearly not on the take. I liken it more to "seeing the bright side" then towing the party line.
btilly 16y ago
She is not just a random blogger. She has been a tech journalist for a couple of decades. And I remember her from years ago as one of the few who took the job seriously. She has been following Microsoft exclusively for years. I think she was the one who broke the scandal a few years back about Microsoft having designated "minders" for journalists that said things they didn't like. But back when Linux broke into the mainstream in the late 90s she was one of the few tech journalists who "got" it pretty quickly. (She made the mistake of regurgitating Microsoft's position once, quickly got corrected, and then demonstrated learning and insight thereafter.) I have no interest in Microsoft so I haven't read anything she's written recently. But she at least used to be on my short list of journalists who I could assume were more likely to have a clue than not.

by ergo98 16y ago

bradleyland 16y ago

Based on most of her writing, you couldn't be criticized for thinking she was a paid Microsoft evangelist. Outside of Paul Thurrott, she's probably the best candidate for a Microsoft-oriented equivalent of John Gruber.

gizmomagico 16y ago
Oh please. Gruber isn't a blind fanboy. Daniel Eran Dilger, on the other hand, while really insightful, can't seem to find anything wrong with anything Apple does.
- ergo98 16y ago
  >Gruber isn't a blind fanboy. Just my personal opinion, but I find Gruber to be far worse than a blind fanboy: He just comes across as someone who raised their flag and damnit, he's sticking with it hell or high water, like some small town sports fan railing to anyone who'll listen why their chosen team is the best and everyone else is second rate. Over and over again. Where he takes on anything other than the official corporate line of Apple he does so only under incredible duress, when he's the only one against an industry and his fanaticism is too obvious. He made a jibe recently about how he'll be getting a big payola check from Cupertino for all of his defenses of Apple lately: Honestly, I would think 100x more of the guy if he did. Just went there for a moment to see the first item is "Android 2.2 Handily Beats iOS4 in JavaScript Benchmarks". Great, even handed, right? Yet in true Gruber style he adds "which isn’t possible under iOS 4.0 because of a security feature where once a page in memory is marked writeable, it can never be made executable. It’s a nice security feature, but one that comes at the expense of significant potential performance gains.". Android makes very heavy use of the NX bit as well. Only, just like with iOS, they can and do circumvent that when the need arises. Saying that iOS can't do this is utterly asinine. And you can be sure that iOS will do this, it's just that web performance hasn't been a top priority for the platform. The next n-stories are all pretty much the same thing -- Apple is maligned and unfairly trodden upon. Android is stinky poo-poo, and on and on. It's unpalatable to all but the faithful.
  - gizmomagico 16y ago
    I don't know about that, but Gruber's pointed out lots of bullshit App Store rejections, for example. It's always seemed to me like he just calls them as he sees them.
mustpax 16y ago
Gruber has a knack toeing the Apple line, but you have to give him more credit than that. He bothers to lay out clear arguments in his posts, and I've yet to see him write something as contentless as this piece. I mean, what the hell is this: But I never wanted to be part of the Apple community because I have had so many negative, hostile and condescending interactions with not just Apple fanboys, but regular Apple users. If that’s what “thinking different” was, I wanted no parts. And she's bemoaning the lack of Internet Explorer on the iPad. Why, exactly? I’d love to see Internet Explorer, Firefox and the Zune software (Microsoft’s iTunes equivalent) be ported to the iPad.
- bradleyland 16y ago
  Don't get me wrong. I think Gruber would pummel either of these two hacks in an argument, and I enjoy his writing while Mary Jo makes me want to gouge my eyes out, but you have to admit that sometimes, no matter how well formed his argument, John really works his ass off to find a defensible position for Apple.
  - _xentek 16y ago
    He may advocate them, but he's clearly not on the take. I liken it more to "seeing the bright side" then towing the party line.

btilly 16y ago

She is not just a random blogger. She has been a tech journalist for a couple of decades. And I remember her from years ago as one of the few who took the job seriously. She has been following Microsoft exclusively for years. I think she was the one who broke the scandal a few years back about Microsoft having designated "minders" for journalists that said things they didn't like. But back when Linux broke into the mainstream in the late 90s she was one of the few tech journalists who "got" it pretty quickly. (She made the mistake of regurgitating Microsoft's position once, quickly got corrected, and then demonstrated learning and insight thereafter.) I have no interest in Microsoft so I haven't read anything she's written recently. But she at least used to be on my short list of journalists who I could assume were more likely to have a clue than not.