Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Am I alone in my understanding of the article?

Author:Jeremy Bowers
Posted:7/29/1999; 11:08:37 AM
Topic:Letter to the Editor of Wired
Msg #:8890 (In response to 8866)
Prev/Next:8889 / 8891

Am I alone in how I understood the article?

I understood the article as a complaint/warning to Apple that they are paying too much attention to form over substance, as is evidenced by a computer so "cute" that a huge swath of the so-called "target audience" wouldn't be caught dead with it. That a smaller part of that target audience wouldn't mind wasn't the point that I saw, nor was the idea that the computer was intrinsically wrong because of its appeal to certain classes of women (/girls... methinks this will appeal to the young moreso then the old, so perhaps "girls" is more appropriate then "women"... though that's always a hard line, made worse by the PC crowd). It's just a foolishly narrow market decision, made by [marketing?] executives who have been trying to re-work the image of Apple into I-don't-know-what... candy manufacturor, perhaps? I doubt Dvorak would have objected for one second if this was merely one of several case designs that people could choose from; in fact, from his previous columns, one can virtually guarentee he would have applauded the lineup as a whole (even if he personally didn't like the case currently in question).

Maybe I'm just too willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to an elderly white male pundit (4 strikes, he's out!). Or maybe Dvorak should have realized that in this day and age, the art of satire is dead, killed by the political correctness crowd in the interests of... ummmm... I'm sure they had some good reason. Maybe Dvorak should have spelled it out in less vivid language.

Or maybe some people should be a little less sensitive to perceived discrimination, and worry a bit more about the real thing.

At any rate, I look forward to the inevitable explanation Dvorak will issue. While it's concievable that he really was being sexist for no readily apparent reason, I can tell you this: If his defense amounts to something along these lines, I will believe him in toto.



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