Ed Bott writes “Robert X. Clueless”

My favorite line (the last line):

"Or you could just look at the by-line. If it says Cringely, you know it’s wrong."

I don't really have an informted opinion on this whole matter, but I can say this: that's a funny line.

Why do people listen to a guy famous for making an incorrect decision about stock options? I also didn't know that about the PhD... Now he pisses me off even more. Unless you can hold a physical diploma in your hand, you don't have a PhD. End of discussion.

Wow!! Just Wow!! His reasoning that Cringely's article is full of horseshit because of the absence of links makes him the George Bush among bloggers. Pun intended.

So Robert, You're saying that this statement was wrong? A Microsoft employee didn't say this?

"Last week, a Microsoft data security guru suggested at a conference that corporate and government users would be wise to come up with automated processes to wipe clean hard drives and reinstall operating systems and applications periodically as a way to deal with malware infestations. What Microsoft is talking about is a utility from SysInternals, a company that makes simply awesome tools."

I heard this from several other blogs that a MS person said that Malware has gotten to much to handle by any other means then reformatting hard drives and starting fresh. Can you tell us the correct statement he made then?

I personally suspect that this attack and smear campaign against Cringely has more to do with his previous column "Prisoner of Redmond" http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit200603... I find the timing highly suspicious, and why is Bott drudging up and old story about Cringley's credibility over this article now when Cringley has written far more scathing editorials about Microsoft in the past than "A Whole New Ball Game".

Bott has *his* facts wrong when he talks about the lack of links as a sign of bad journalism. Cringley puts links for each of his columns in a separate "Links of the Week" http://www.pbs.org/cringely/links/links20060406....

Maybe Bott needs a few journalism 101 lessons, especially when it comes to fact-checking.

IMHO, Brian's comment here is right on the money.

It's sort of a clean hands, clean room scenario here when you point to someone else critcising a Microsoft critic. No comment of your own Robert, or is it just safer to point to a proxy?

At least Scoble's blog is funny. Bott isn't.

I think that MS and cronies have their panties tied up in a knot right now. Apple isn't seeking to overthrow Windows... but rather, they want to shave off a few percentage points. "What's a couple of percentage points between friends?" But, it's still an uncomfortable situation for you guys in Redmond.

Deny it til you die... but Vista, oh Vista, wherefore art thou Vista? From Wordnet: "vista (n) - the visual percept of a region"

Windows - like the kind that MS developers and evangelists look out of and see a world where software is shipping and being used by people... as they get back to coding software that's been DELAYED AGAIN!

Neema: you forget that OSX was delayed back when it first was to come out too and that tons of people (not me) were saying Apple was dead in the late 1990s.

Actually, funny enough, I think you're right and that process is good for Microsoft.

Hmm... this blog and its shrill viciousness isn't that fun to read. Lots of passion doesn't necessarily mean that one is right -- nor being endorsed by others who similarly lack real credibility. Cringley is an opinion columnist and not a true reporter -- he writes on the cutting edge and thus can be wrong. To attempt to crucify him over that seems vindictive. If Microsoft internally is having problems, please don't take it out on others. Microsoft's future has never been in the hands of journalists, especially the few you (Scoble) have targeted recently. They are merely commentators to the action. The future of Microsoft is in the hands of Microsoft and its ability to deliver products that win in the marketplace.

Ancient history I think. Cringely isn't always right, but he is thought provoking.

Robert,

OS X didn't slip six years. It's also shipped a new major version about every year and a half since it first got out the door.

The real lesson for the Empire, is that Apple eventually recognized when they had a failed project on their hands, and the went out and bought NeXT. If you'd owned up to the longhorn disaster four years ago, you might have a shred of credibility left.

Oh, and Neema: I don't agree with you that Apple isn't seeking to overthrow windows. They know it can't be done overnight, so they're working methodically at growing their installed base, by concentrating on improving their product.

Even if Cringely is all wrong, and Ed Bott is all right, Bott destroys his own position by the tone of his argument, which is an ad hominem attack.

Bott would be better advised to have cooled down, and present his evidence and argument in a systematic manner.

There are plenty of ad hominem attacks already in the blogsphere; we don't need more of them. If this keeps up, this will be the best way for the mainstream media to regain some lost audience.

Reckless blogging is the worst enemy of blogging.

Wow, so this attack all journalists (or even opinionists) via the Bott ntcake proxy, is part of your Evangelism outreach?

There are lots of sites that document his faked credentials. Wacko...

Robert -

10.0 - 2001
10.1 - 2001
10.2 - 2002
10.3 - 2003
10.4 - 2005 (on time, BTW)

In the meanwhile, we've been all characters in "Desperately Seeking Longhorn" for the last 3 years! And anything desirable has been pulled from it except for the pretty GUI slapped on the slightly gussied up pig (Microsoft Live Windows Live 2003 Server Live Undead Double Plus Perfect!!!!!!1)

You know why you keep adding "Live" to every product?

Because you want to keep people from thinking that MS is dying!

Nagha

Excellent!
Apple ships software every 12 months....please tell me how that is actually *good* for customers - oh wait a minute - you must actually be one of those three customers who use Macs....

Now go get a life and leave this blog alone.

You know, I saw that CNet article, and the first thing I did was to send it to my boss. "We're screwed," was the two-word body of my email containing the link to this post.

When a highly-placed Microsoft engineer tells me that any old user can surf a website, and have a rootkit installed that hides a keystroke logger, and the only way I can deal with that is to wipe that machine, reinstall the operating system, and start over ... that OS isn't deployable in a business.

Microsoft better SOLVE the rootkit issue; I don't much care for the technical arguments being put forth about how I'm supposed to deal with this issue as an IT support engineer using Ghost.

If 20% of malware is rootkit today, tomorrow it will be 90%. Then the OS NEEDS TO BE CHANGED. I need OPTIONS, such as the ability to TURN OFF Internet Explorer's capability to allow ANY file to be copied to the workstation.

Total redesign of how we use the internet today? You betcha. Do I care? No, I don't really. If I can't support it, I ain't gonna DEPLOY it.

Get IE out of the innards of the OS, so I can REMOVE IT from user desktops. After all, I ain't gonna spend the rest of my life reghosting machines.

Vivek - obviously, you've forgotten how great it is when your OS is constantly updated and offers you new features, improved speed and stability. I upgrade my OS on the "new machine + 1 OS upgrade" cycle and it's great.

Let me tell you, I've been laughing all the way to increased productivty while watching my Windows colleagues see their machines run through molasses with Norton AV and anti-spyware flavor of the month software...

What's better today, Rob?

Adaware
Spybot
MS Antispyware/Defender - or will it be "Microsoft Windows Defender Live?"

"Apple ships software every 12 months….please tell me how that is actually *good* for customers"

You're kidding, right?

-jcr