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Jesse
Berst -
Many, new to the internet, have never seen a flame before. This may qualify -- as a master flamer, I wish to show you what a well written flame looks like.
- The purpose of my flames are not to harm, but to make the recipient think about the stupidity of what he said -- and HOPEFULLY, encourage them to think a little more NEXT TIME, before he opens his ignorant mouth and crams his misinformed foot down his self-important throat until he chokes on his own genitalia!
- Jesse Berst's name is a complete sentence that explains his latest article -- a burst brain aneurysm would be the only reasonable explanation for his latest delusional ramblings --
- The real blame for this latest Microsoft fiasco [delays in Win98] lies with IBM, Apple and Novell.
- The guy lost all objectivity while working on PC-Week.
- He realizes that MS has a bigger ad budget than Apple.
- Most importantly -- his biased Apple Bashing and stupid actions get him attention and "feedback" for his "class clown" actions.
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(1) For those who don't know, sideshow geeks are the ones who do stupid things like eating glass or live animals, piercing their body with large objects, or doing other things that shouldn't be done -- all for money or attention.
- Originally Microsoft planned one Win98 upgrade for Win95 users in early 1998, another for Win3.1 users a few months later.
- All three [OS/2, MacOS, DR-DOS] had opportunities to build viable competitors to Windows. All three botched it.
Jesse has proven himself in the past to be a Microsoft Apologist, and Apple basher. Well, I suppose it is more accurate to call him "a basher of everything not-Microsoft" (or Intel). Just start going through the article archives, and his bias sticks out like turd in a punch-bowl. (Sorry for the scatological reference, but his articles just kept bringing this imagery to mind).
His latest piece (and I'll leave it to the reader to decide piece of what) is about how (get this) -- Microsoft isn't responsible for the delay of Win98 -- it is really all Apple's fault (and IBM and Novell). I'm not kidding! I quote -
I've always questioned this guys motivation (and grasp on sanity), and been astounded by his complete lack of anything resembling objectivity. But this one is amazing (not in a good way) -- even for him.
I personally think the his motivations are obvious --
Once he started down this path of "childish tantrums for attention", he was trapped like a junkie to his addiction. (In this case, the junkie was addicted to attention -- of course with the incredible insights offered, and clear thinking <sarcasm>, one has to wonder if there aren't other mind-altering addictions in Jesse's life. )
Like a Class Clown, I don't think we should encourage him (or even laugh AT him) -- just pity him.
I feel sorry for a person that is so attention depraved that he has to go to such extremes to get anyone to recognize him. It must be a person with an extreme lack of self-worth that will throw away his entire professional ethics (if he had any), and all the things that are valued in journalists (like integrity, objectivity, insight) -- and instead go for these pathetic pleas for attention. The only thing left for him (on this path) is for him to quit journalism and become a side-show geek (1)!
As is usual for the genre, there are a few partial facts in his article -- mixed with the usual misinformation (errors, lies, lack of the full story), whatever you want to call it.
This is wrong (a distortion), who's only purpose could be to make MS look good.
Originally, MS planned an upgrade to Win95 in '96. Then they slipped that to early '97... then mid '97 ... then late '97. Then they scheduled it for early '98. Now they are slipping it to mid '98. Soon, it will be shipping December 32, 1998.
Slipping is nothing new to MS. The first schedules for Win95 (Chicago) was '91 or '92 -- with far more features than have been delivered yet. Cairo (Microsofts response to OpenStep and OpenDoc) was promised for for '93. It is 4 years late so far, and not even on the radar yet.
Jesse fails to mention that MS has this long tainted history, and instead tries to pretend that this is something new.
Of course this is the same guy that will criticize Apple's 1 year slip (on a 3 year project), MacOS 8 -- yet apologizes for MS's 3 year slip (on a 1 year project). Double standard? You be the judge.
Ahhh, got it --
- IBM blew it by making a superior product that PC
users (and IS managers) were too stupid to see the value
of -- and IBM blew it by allowing a multi-year crusade of
misinformation, by thousands of reporters, to constantly
bash OS/2 in the press. IBM should have never allowed the
press to bash OS/2 right out of existence -- it's all
their fault.
- Novell blew it by allowing Microsoft to make Windows
"accidentally" incompatible with DR-DOS (which was far
superior to MS-DOS of the time). It wasn't the presses
fault for not pointing out the actions of MS in all this,
and it wasn't the presses fault for allowing another
inferior MS product to succeed -- and it wasn't the
Justice Depts. fault for looking the other way when MS
did many actions that were unethical (and illegal). It
was all Novell's fault.(2)
(2) FWIW, I do think that Novell is incompetent. One needs only use any version of Netware since the original DOS version to see that. These guys can't code their way out of a Do-While loop. (Sorry for the geek bashing). My point is, that Novell's incompetence with Netware has little to do with why DR-DOS was destroyed.
- Apple also blew it -- by "allowing" apologists like Berst to destroy consumer confidence in their OS, via a campaign of misinformation. It's all Apple's fault.
- And now all those companies are responsible for the
results and harm done to consumers.
Glad ol' Jesse cleared that up -- I was missing it. For some deluded reason I was thinking that reporters might be responsible for the words they write, and the harm they cause. But now I bask in the light of Jesse's brilliance. Interestingly enough, a response on ZDNET said the same thing.
There are some other choice quotes in the article (for the rational readers out there -- not Berst's normal audience) --
- Microsoft has proved it can move quickly and efficiently when pushed by competition. Witness Internet Explorer, which has made tremendous (technical) progress since its first version.
This statement is not completely untrue... but again, it is lacking in any depth of what really went on.
- Microsoft moves quickly when it can buy a product from someone else (say the Spyglass browser) and use it as the basis of it's product. (MS has a long history of innovation by acquisition).
- Microsoft has done some rapid response with some Apps. -- but is much slower about their OS's. Come on, it took them 10+ years to get a poor rip-off of long file names, and even those don't work well.
- Microsoft also does well when it can copy others
(like Netscape) and take claim for their innovations
(like they've been doing in the "browser wars"),
Microsoft also does well when they have someone else to
follow -- but has never been a leader. Who would they
copy? (3)
(3) I'm afraid that an original thought coming from Microsoft's campus would cause a chain reaction that would implode the whole company (and much of the Northwestern United States) --- kinda like a matter / anti-matter explosion, this one based around original thought and anti-thought (process of ripping off others and making incompatible versions of their products).
- Wait, I'm sorry... I was actually trying to offer some unique insight and education in an editorial. I'd better be careful, or the difference between mine and Jesse styles might cause another of those dangerous thought / anti-thought implosions that I (and others) fear. (4)
-
(4) I know others must fear it, or someone at Ziff-Davis would have had the good sense to reign in Mr. Berst's ridiculous writings, or fire him because he reflects so poorly on ZD..
-
NOTE: Good flame must be factual, insightful, and have lots of personal attacks mixed in. The more accurate those attacks are, the better the flame.Hopefully, Jesse will feel enough heat that he will break free that seized-up brain of his, and will stop repeating MS propaganda -- instead coming up with an original thought and something worth reading.
All this is, of course, IMNSHO!
Again, I offer a plea, "Don't waste your time responding to him." He will only start on his martyr syndrome again. Think about the mental calisthenics this guy has to go through to twist and stretch the truth into his typical article. Now imagine how his mind must work, and how he will see constructive criticism. Talk about wasted energy on your part.
If you want to complain, complain to his superiors. You can complain about how his articles offend sensibility. Tell them if it angers you. Or you could tell them the truth about what it makes you want to do with your subscriptions (if you have any left). (I personally canceled my MacWEEK, PCWEEK subscriptions -- as I've grown tired of their brand of journalism. The saddest thing is that PCWEEKs pages are too shiny (nonabsorbent) to be used for the only thing they would really be good for!
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