Does Apple Get Too Much Press?

[Kent Pribbernow]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1872175,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1872175,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>"As big and as important as Microsoft is, the coverage of the company is quite mediocre. This is particularly true in the mainstream press. The reason for this is that today's newspaper and magazine tech writers know little about computers and are all Mac users. It's a fact."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/050907ipod.jpg" /><br /><br />Dvorak brings up some excellent points about why Apple gets TOO MUCH publicity at times. It's a little known secret that most journalists and media firms use Macs. As do anyone working in the publishing industry. Heck, even PC World Magazine is designed on a Macintosh systems. So it's little wonder that a strong Apple/Mac bias seems to permeate from within the tech media. A new Apple product gets exposure on the front cover of Time Magazine, while Microsoft based products get little more than a footnote mention. <br /><br />To be fair, I would say from my own personal experience, Apple is one of the few (if only) companies in the tech sector that draws excitement. Think about it. When you look at other competing companies like Dell...do you find their product releases interesting or exciting in any way? Dell is all about value, not sex appeal. Good as their products are (well, for the most part) they just don't resonate enthusiasm. <br /><br />Even Microsoft has lost its ability to spawn enthusiasm these days. Windows Vista has been so badly managed over the last few years I don't even know what to expect from this OS. That said, there is a lot to get excited about, and I think we're going to see a lot of media focus deservedly shift to Vista later this year.

[Jason Eaton]

What the...? Okay, this guy has me baffled. I just can't understand his point of view at times.

"This reality is not going to change. In fact it will only get worse as technology coverage is handed to newer, less-qualified observers who simply cannot use a Microsoft Windows computer."

So is his point that Windows OS is hard to use? Or everyone but him is stupid? Or how about this:

"There are entire newsrooms, such as the one at Forbes, that consist entirely of Macintoshes. Apparently nobody but me finds this weird."

and

"I often confront these guys with this assertion, and they, to a man (I've never confronted a female reporter about this), all say that they use a Mac "because it is better." Right. And that attitude doesn't affect coverage now, does it?"

So in summary of my reading, instead of stories related to a product that people are buying, creating communities, and getting excited about, what writers should be saying is how great the new MS office is cause it is the talk of the water cooler these days and all the rage at clubs. How smart John D. is and everyone else is stupid because they don't understand the complexities of bad design, and why it is better to use worse equipment instead of something that does it better when doing your job. I mean... what was I thinking?