John C. Dvorak, a long time main stay of technology magazines, has proven that he is so absolutely out of touch with modern technology and its uses that his future opinions are all now cast into doubt. His recent statements are so off base, that I seriously wonder if he has suddenly suffered permanent mental damage. In a recent column for PC Magazine he declared that the as of yet unreleased Google Phone is already doomed.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the Google Phone is going to be a huge success either. It could really go either way. Plenty of good ideas, and big promises have been canceled or utterly flopped. The Google Phone may go that way, but given Google’s track record, I’m inclined to bet that they have something neat up their sleeves. Even some of their less well known products are amazingly useful, albeit less popular.
What really sets Dvorak’s statements from simply short sighted to down right moronic, however, is why he thinks the Google Phone is doomed:
So what is Google trying to do with a phone? First of all, it wants to put Google search on a phone. It wants to do this because it is obvious to the folks at Google that people need to do Web searches from their phone, so they can, uh, get directions to the restaurant? Of course, they can simply use the phone itself to call the restaurant and ask!
Right…, because people only do web searches to get directions to a restaurant, and of course always have the phone number for every location they might want to visit on hand? Obviously Dvorak has been asleep for the past few years and has thus missed Google SMS, which allows you to conduct Google searches with any SMS enabled phone by simply texting the search to GOOGL. Personally I can vouch for the fact that my friends and family all use Google SMS quite a bit. Whether it is searching for a Sports score when you can’t get to a TV or computer, searching for the nearest Asian restaurant in a certain zipcode, or using it as a text based 411, it works beautifully and is amazingly useful. It’s been so useful and so popular in fact, that Google debuted a new voice recognition version of it called Google 411, which works brilliantly, and is completely free (compared to the $1.99 most cell companies will charge for their 411 services).
In fact, Google’s new 411 service highlights an important point. Search engines for phones actually pre-date search engines on the web. So, yes, Dvorak, people DO in fact want to have search capabilities for their phones, and have actually wanted such capabilities long before the World Wide Web had even been a pipe dream. But you don’t have to speculate on the demand for mobile phone search capabilities, studies have shown that the demand is sky rocketing for these features (with mobile phone access to maps and directions topping the list).
Finally, Dvorak needs to realize that mobile phones are changing radically. Between roll up displays, compact virtual keyboards, and unbeliveably small projectors, it may not be long before the phone in your pocket is every bit as powerful and usable as a computer. Based on this information, I think Google is making a pretty safe bet by designing their phone around search capabilities. I’m really not sure where Dvorak is getting his ideas, but I think it is clear from his column that he has grown dangerously out of touch with modern technology.
-Angry Midwesterner
November 29, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Yeah, Dvorak’s idiocy is pretty well known, especially to Mac users. Depending on the forum, he often will write opinions that contradict each other.
The ass even allowed himself to be recorded stating how he bates/makes outrageous statement just to get web hits.
He’s a tool.
November 29, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Yep, Dvorak’s an idiot. He makes his money on FUD. Please stop paying attention to him. It keeps money coming. Your link simply doesn’t help.
November 29, 2007 at 4:44 pm
You can’t get a map to restaurant from a phone call, either.
Dvorak way:
1) Call information, get phone number.
2) Call restaurant, ask for directions.
3) Write directions on napkin/old receipt/etc.
4) Get lost because the directions were incorrect.
Google way:
1) Lookup restaurant, get map.
2) Eat.
Hmmmm… that’s more than stupid, that’s “me no phone workie!”
November 29, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Google needs to get into the mobile business (starting with phones)… There business model depends on it..
Put simply, they need to get there advertising platform onto the mobile market. Failure to do so could see them lose there lead in the advertising world drop in a decade.
ps. gone are the days of the innocent pub quiz nights. Could you imagine the havok a google powered phone would cause!
November 29, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Dvork says ALOT of stuff. On the whole i pretty much like his view on things, for instance he sees the kindle as a failure, so does mossberg, add it up, and so, do i.
Americo
http://ThunkDifferent.com
November 29, 2007 at 5:25 pm
He has been predicting product failures since the early 90s, maybe earlier. Every now-and-then he is bound to get something right. I’ve never been able to stand him, and stop subscribing to magazines he wrote articles for.
November 29, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Yes, Dvorak has been off eversince I knew him.
I see that he has good ideas. I see where he’s coming from and where he’s trying to get, but the problem is, whenever he writes, he does not always back-up what he says with evidence. Lots of speculation. I liked the idea of Bubble 2.0, but when he wrote about it, he hardly gave any convincing evidence, and in the end, he says, “All I can tell you is that it’s a sure thing.”
His methods just make him look like a polemic. Well, afterall, he is a cranky geek.
November 29, 2007 at 5:54 pm
Mr. Dvorak is not in the business of accuracy when dealing with technology any more than FOX is in the business of delivering news. Both are in the business of selling advertising, and bombastic hyperbole – whether accurate or not – is the best way.
November 29, 2007 at 10:33 pm
It is better to predict that Mr. Dvorak has failed.
November 30, 2007 at 12:35 am
Google Phone WORKS! But it’s the universal law of the society that ‘when something unique suddenly works, it simulataneously irks a lot of set and stagnated people’. That’s how many innovative thngs are encroached into our daily life.
November 30, 2007 at 7:15 am
Who’s Dvorak???
November 30, 2007 at 8:24 am
Who cares about some idiot who doesn’t know what he’s talking about? You’re only playing into his little game.
November 30, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Dvorak is a Doofus! Google is great and nothing will ever make it less popular! I mean, everyone loves google don’t they. Google isn’t doomed, Dvorak is doomed! Check out my blog at http://www.extrapreneur.wordpress.com
November 30, 2007 at 12:06 pm
I think Dvorak invented the QWERTY keyboard.
November 30, 2007 at 12:18 pm
I guess we all know that Google is not doomed.
November 30, 2007 at 3:56 pm
John also felt that the iphone was doomed… as At&t’s highest selling phone, i feel it has done/doing pretty well.
Dvorak is great to listen to on twit cause he always wants to argue… i think he says things just to push peoples buttons sometimes.
http://www.anomoly.wordpress.com
December 1, 2007 at 1:33 am
Dvorak simply has no imagination. I’ve been reading PC Magazine since Issue #1, and he’s been wrong so many times sometimes I think he does it intentionally. Maybe he’s really a humor writer.
Among my favorites were the columns where he whined about the uselessness of vendors including sound cards on mainstream PCs, and of course he claimed GUIs were inefficient and would never catch on 🙂
December 2, 2007 at 6:59 pm
[…] 2, 2007, 5:58 pm Filed under: Whatever | Tags: Google, moron, recliner Just a quick note … this blog used the word moron. Cool. No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack […]
December 2, 2007 at 10:33 pm
John Dvorak is a jackass? Shocking and novel. I don’t think the horse is dead enough yet. Maybe you should beat it some more. Some deaf-blind people on Mars don’t know yet.
By the by, how much is Google paying you to advertise their fine products and services for them? I think I’m getting a bad rate, and just wonder if you’re getting more.
July 18, 2013 at 6:07 pm
I am browsing online above Three hours as of late, nevertheless I never identified any kind of useful write-up similar to you. It’s wonderful truly worth enough for me. For my part, if perhaps many site owners along with writers created just right information while you does, the world wide web is often a lot more handy than any other time.