Sometimes, or maybe frequently, a post here is done rather rashly, impulsively, and often stupidly wrong. I step in my own dog poop.
There’s nice places on the net where nice people say only nice things. Not here. Hopefully reader glean my “style” as my way of trying to provoke discussion, controversy, and get a reaction. Hence. my new quip on the sidebar by my favorite philosopher:
[The Blogosphere] is like a stew. If you don’t stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top. — mangled quote from Edward Abbey
And doing so, I do manage to get things wrong, or to mis-represent things or just flame off like some overreactive barbecue grill. It’s my blog, my space, and my soapbox, but I also want to be quick to point out my own mistakes.
This did happen in my tirade The Secret Lives of Apple Products. So this is my lame mea culpa. I tossed out some remarks that suggested our local Apple rep, who has been tireless and supportive to our work for years, had not been responsive, as was the contact from Apple on iTunesU. That was not very accurate. It seems they, just like us, are not in the direct loop on what is going on with iTunes U.
I do love Apple. I am writing this with 3 Apple laptops open on my desk. I do, however, stand by my criticism of the way this “product” has been managed. It flew up huge balloons of expectations without any tethers to us on the ground. My venting is only the fermenting of what started out with lots of optimism and enthusiasm and really not much of anything we can do but wait for the product to descend from the engineering labs.
So for all those who sent this link around privately by email, saying, “Can you believe what this idiot says?”, make sure you follow up with and email and this post’s link so others know the idiot is coming clean with. Apparentyl, while some participate in the “distributed conversation” of blog / comment/ trackback / ping space, it is but the tiny tip of the communication iceberg where the bulk of conversation is by email– nothing bad about that, but it helps to keep that in mind.
Nuff said. Gotta work.
Kudos for you. A lot of us have posted things in haste, but not many of us have the courage to acknowledge it. I can understand if maybe your local reps’ feelings or someone else’s at Apple were hurt as occassionally your barks can be kind of gruff (which I know is amazing to all of us who have actually met Alan in person, couldn’t meet a nicer, calmer guy).
Still, you don’t seem to be alone in your comments about Apple’s cult of secrecy, and anyone who’s ever read your blog knows your love for Apple and that your comments were likely borne out of frustration, not dislike. Lucky for you, at the end of the day, the arrogance you put up with turns out ‘insanely great’ products, while the arrogance us poor Windows hostages deal with turns out http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4291661536788172681 . Cheers, Scott
It’s ok to f*** up every now and then. I wish my boss had that philosphy. Dogs don’t care if they step in poo occasionally, and what fun would it be to walk barefoot in the park, if not for the land mines the doggies leave for us? It may be a little unpleasant, but none the worse for wear. So go on and rant, and damn the torpedoes. Right or wrong, if it isn’t said, it’s not worth saying.
Ah, Scott, that video was done by Microsoft itself, poking fun at its own packaging foibles and trying to get itself to a better place.
Does Apple ever poke fun at itself? That’s a real question.