3 ms·

I call B.S. on this. Marco and Gruber are effectively Apple shills, but more clever than one like MG. Gruber and Marco are tactical in their praise of non-MS

I call B.S. on this. Marco and Gruber are effectively Apple shills, but more clever than one like MG. Gruber and Marco are tactical in their praise of non-MS products. They'll praise something they think has no chance of threatening Apple. Despite Android's flaws, there's also tons of stuff in it worth praising, but you'll rarely (if ever) hear them say a peep about Android. Likewise, Surface is a LOT more threatening than Windows Phone. They don't view it as a cute toy, but rather a serious threat to the iPad. Don't you find it the least bit odd that Marco does a story about his experience at the MS store, with pictures of an empty store and never references any of the stories that talked about full stores? If Marco and Gruber actually like a new Windows device it likely means they don't think it will sell much. If they think it has potential, they'll find a way to bash it.

JuDue 14y ago
Gruber happily posted Wired's positive review of surface, commenting "Interesting review of an interesting device."
cjamesk 14y ago
Lets think about this whole concept of being an Apple shill for a moment. Assuming they are Apple shills, why do you think they are? What drives them? What factors created the Apple shill? What do they gain by being an Apple shill? Why do you think they care if the Surface does well? Because it would disprove some fragile mental modle they have where they place a more importance on aesthetics and interface than customizability and price? Why are they trying so hard to make Apple look good? Do they just think Apple's awesome without really thinking about it? How many articles do you think Marco's read about packed Microsoft stores? Based on most of his articles, he writes about his experiences without generally using aggregate data to come to some conclusion about anything. Maybe you have an issue with his methods here, but I don't think you're likely to find him talk about other people's experiences, especially people who he likely doesn't read. (ie. He's not going to do much research into other articles about Microsoft stores before writing this story.) Maybe you don't like that, but he's consistent about it. If someone wants to look up every article about MS stores, his can be one data point. Again, why do you think Gruber and Marco are actively trying to influence the sales of Apple devices? Do you think Gruber is doing it to get rich? He has a ton of stock and is trying to bump marketshare? I just can't find a reason that Marco and Gruber would directly lie about their thoughts on a product based on their predictions of future sales.
- kenjackson 14y ago
  Assuming they are Apple shills, why do you think they are? What drives them? What factors created the Apple shill? What do they gain by being an Apple shill? Is this supposed to be a difficult exercise? The reasons are rather obvious IMO -- they have a lot of social and technical capital in the Apple ecosystem. Based on most of his articles, he writes about his experiences without generally using aggregate data to come to some conclusion about anything. Just perusing the first page of his blog seems to indicate otherwise.
  - cjamesk 14y ago
    Why did they chose the Apple ecosystem? Gruber's been in the ecosystem a long time, but Marco made a choice within the past ten years. It's not like they made the choice for no reason. Where on the front page does Marco write a long form article where he bases his opinions on the opinions of others?

JuDue 14y ago

Gruber happily posted Wired's positive review of surface, commenting "Interesting review of an interesting device."

cjamesk 14y ago

Lets think about this whole concept of being an Apple shill for a moment. Assuming they are Apple shills, why do you think they are? What drives them? What factors created the Apple shill? What do they gain by being an Apple shill? Why do you think they care if the Surface does well? Because it would disprove some fragile mental modle they have where they place a more importance on aesthetics and interface than customizability and price? Why are they trying so hard to make Apple look good? Do they just think Apple's awesome without really thinking about it? How many articles do you think Marco's read about packed Microsoft stores? Based on most of his articles, he writes about his experiences without generally using aggregate data to come to some conclusion about anything. Maybe you have an issue with his methods here, but I don't think you're likely to find him talk about other people's experiences, especially people who he likely doesn't read. (ie. He's not going to do much research into other articles about Microsoft stores before writing this story.) Maybe you don't like that, but he's consistent about it. If someone wants to look up every article about MS stores, his can be one data point. Again, why do you think Gruber and Marco are actively trying to influence the sales of Apple devices? Do you think Gruber is doing it to get rich? He has a ton of stock and is trying to bump marketshare? I just can't find a reason that Marco and Gruber would directly lie about their thoughts on a product based on their predictions of future sales.

kenjackson 14y ago
Assuming they are Apple shills, why do you think they are? What drives them? What factors created the Apple shill? What do they gain by being an Apple shill? Is this supposed to be a difficult exercise? The reasons are rather obvious IMO -- they have a lot of social and technical capital in the Apple ecosystem. Based on most of his articles, he writes about his experiences without generally using aggregate data to come to some conclusion about anything. Just perusing the first page of his blog seems to indicate otherwise.
- cjamesk 14y ago
  Why did they chose the Apple ecosystem? Gruber's been in the ecosystem a long time, but Marco made a choice within the past ten years. It's not like they made the choice for no reason. Where on the front page does Marco write a long form article where he bases his opinions on the opinions of others?