Friday, June 07, 2002

Beverage update: I finally tried Vanilla Coke, which seems off to a popular start (anecdotal conclusion based on a mention in a N.Y. Times tech column the other day and its being usually sold out of the CVS and bagel shop where I buy my four- or five-a-day Diet Pepsi fix).  The latter habit has made regular cola taste unpleasantly sweet to me, but I didn't find the new drink so — the vanilla flavor must cut the sweetness, although V.Coke is definitely no diet brew at 250 calories per 20-ounce bottle.  Not bad; better at first sip than the ersatz chemical flavor of Diet Pepsi Twist or Diet Coke With Lemon; but with more mouth time the same chemical impression arises, maybe even a medicinal one.  My preference for Diet Pepsi (followed by Diet Coke, which I pretend I can tell the difference) remains, but any of the abovementioned are leagues ahead of Lipton Brisk quasi-ice tea, which in turn is approximately 3,129 times tastier than new Lipton Brisk Lemonade compared to Newman's Own. 8:29:56 PM    commentplace ()

Dave's heart is in the right place.  He does his best to make good, even significant, products at fair prices.  And he truly cares about the wondrous potential, and need to maintain the integrity, of the Internet (I'm still giving him props for the fight against Microsoft's Smart Tags last year, even though he was mostly carrying Walter Mossberg's coattails on that one). But the thing is, all you need to know about Dave boils down to two obsessions: (1.) Outlining is God.  An outliner is the ultimate application; you want and need one; it should be the hub and sum of all computing, creativity, and civilization. (2.) So-called "journalists" are dinosaurs at best; most are contemptible hacks, and all are by definition merely paid shills of The Man and the BigCo conspiracy.  Fiercely independent voices like Mossberg or Dan Gillmor, with their miles-long record of using their soapboxes to crusade against shoddy products, Microsoft's schemes, or dangers of corporate greed like the current digital copy-protection crisis, have done more for and better served the computing community than all Dave's work and wares.  But because Gillmor merely notified his readers of a Knight-Ridder corporate site redesign that stupidly broke Web links, instead of shouting from rooftops, "The company I work for is evil and must be brought down," he is a whore, he is not a journalist. (2a.) And in every line that Dave has ever written about journalism or tech reporting — often right on top, never more than an inch below the surface — a central, simmering outrage: How dare the media give more coverage to IBM, Sun, and Microsoft than to UserLand Software?  It's just wrong!  It proves they're incompetent, immoral sellouts! 9:11:21 AM    commentplace ()