Gene Steinberg takes my latest AppleMatters piece to task
Wow. There’s no permalink (update: found a weekly archive permalink), but check out this June 2nd attack on my article:
The case in point is an article from C.K. Sample III, of AppleMatters, where he says he’s really frustrated over some problems he’s encountered with Tiger. In reading his demands that Apple must fix the things “that are somewhat askew,” I find it raises questions that may be better solved by some careful troubleshooting, rather than playing the blame game. Now I’m not even going to suggest for a moment that Tiger is free of maladies of one sort or another, but when you complain about something in an article intended for public distribution, it helps to check your facts first.
I’ve had a lot of negative response from a few (two or three) TUAW readers as well. However, I have to say that they’re all missing the point. Troubleshooting doesn’t seem to work with Tiger right now. Careful troubleshooting doesn’t work because these problems are inconsistently emerging across a series of installs. The only real solution would seem to be a full erase and install of Tiger. That’s a problem.
And one more thing, (I’d write a more thorough rebuttal on AppleMatters, but I honestly don’t have the time), the article isn’t idle speculation made from a little nook and cranny as this ad hominem article implies; it is based on my experience with a number of users’ machines, with my own machine, with many of my friends’ machines, and on a slew of buggy behavior complaints that I’ve read littered across the web. By the same token, I know a large number of people who aren’t experiencing any of these problems.
What I am sick of is people who don’t have a problem (good for you), but who doggedly insist that that means that there is no problem based on their little microcosm of experience. So completely close-minded that it baffles me!
Update: Oh yeah, and by the way: “no version of iPhoto has never crashed for me, ever…” Double-negative. Learn to write. :-b
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June 3rd, 2005 at 10:37 am
Yeah, it’s nice. No comments. No trackbacks. Permalink is here, though: http://www.macnightowl.com/news/2005/06/week1.htm. It actually exists if you can sort through the crap; the site was just clearly designed by an idiot.
I like that it’s somehow your fault Apple apps don’t work for you. Your problem is that you bouught a digital camera. There’s no reason to expect Apple to take into account when designnig a system that almost everyone has a digital camera.
Sure, there are ways to trouble shoot all of this. But if we wanted to spend our days troubleshooting the core utilities; we’d by Windows. It’s be cheaper. We buy Macs, though, because they “just work”. Or at least they’re supposed to. Attempting to index cameras via usb 1.0 is just silly, and preventable.
Of course, it’s complicated, because you want some umass devices indexed. But if Image capture can recaognize a camera when it’s plugged in, so can spotlight.
You really shouldn’t waste your breath on idiots like this, though. A troll is a troll is a troll.
June 3rd, 2005 at 11:56 am
Yes, but as this particular troll has 5 books under his belt, I thought it warranted a reply.
June 3rd, 2005 at 12:45 pm
So? You’ve got, what, two and working on three?
Don’t feed ‘em. Especially when they should know better.
Or maybe I just missed the part where ad hominem atacks become acceptable after a person has published five books…
Of course, I’d do the same. But probably in slightly more colorful language.
July 21st, 2005 at 7:05 am
The response to my article is really sad, because it glosses over the very points I raised, and, instead, indulges in a personal attack based on an innocent typo. And the responses here are equally laced with personal attacks that do not address any of the valid issues.
So let me correct some erroneous assumptions. My article does not constitute a personal attack against anyone. If you actually read the article, you’d realize that. It is, instead, an argument against taking one’s microcosm of the universe and applying it to everyone. I recommend that people actually read my article before coming to conclusions based on the erroneous summaries.
If you truly believe that anyone who disagrees with you must be indulging in an “ad hominem” attack, then I feel bad for you, really bad.
Here’s the real “permalink,” which you’d realize had you actually checked the source code:
http://www.macnightowl.com/news/2005/06/week1.htm#mine
No, I did not desigh the site, in case you’re wondering, but it still isn’t fair to attack the person who did, someone you don’t know! Of course, if you want to volunteer your efforts to redesign the site, I welcome your constructive suggestions.
The fact of the matter is that, yes, troubleshooting does work in Tiger. But it’s clearly a complicated, sprawling operating system, and sometimes the solutions aren’t found as easily as they should be.
I’m happy to respond to any legitimate points. But if you have noting better to offer than insults, then this “blog” is simply not worthy of further attention.
Gene Steinberg
July 21st, 2005 at 8:00 am
Man, you really can’t read yourself well then can you? Your critique is filled with points that talk about me rather than the issues I raised in my original article. Actually, you call every point that I make in the Apple Matters piece into question by saying things like “I don’t know if Sample, who considers himself a Mac guru, did that, since it’s not mentioned in the article.” Now, considering that I am a Mac guru, wouldn’t you assume that I did? I mean, that’s not arguing my article, that’s making assumptions about me that imply that I am misrepresenting myself.
Also, your addition to the end of the article is ludicrous: “Update: Without a heads-up, the author of the article in question wrote a response concealed in a personal blog. Rather than address the issues, it was laced with personal attacks, which is why I am not going to provide a link. I always welcome constructive criticism, but clearly the author in question regards contrary opinions as an affront to his ego. It is sad, truly sad. And, for now, that’s all I have to say on the subject.”
Concealed in a personal blog?! It was on the front page of this blog for quite some time. There’s this thing called “referrers” and another called “trackbacks” that you may want to look into. Would’ve told you that I wrote it months ago. The attempted derogatory spin on “personal blog” simply tells me that you just flat out don’t get it. Sad.
July 21st, 2005 at 8:09 am
[...] Make sure you read this post and all the comments for the history behind it, but Gene Steinberg replied today to a post I made over a month ago about how he was clearly not reading my original Apple Matters article by claiming that I clearly wasn’t reading his article. What was really funny is that he takes issue that I hid my rebuttal on my “personal blog.” Here’s part of my reply: Man, you really can’t read yourself well then can you? Your critique is filled with points that talk about me rather than the issues I raised in my original article. Actually, you call every point that I make in the Apple Matters piece into question by saying things like “I don’t know if Sample, who considers himself a Mac guru, did that, since it’s not mentioned in the article.” Now, considering that I am a Mac guru, wouldn’t you assume that I did? I mean, that’s not arguing my article, that’s making assumptions about me that imply that I am misrepresenting myself. [...]
January 28th, 2006 at 6:10 am
January 06