Back in the late 80s, I went to COMDEX in Las Vegas. I don’t gamble (at least not at casinos), so I spent a bit of time in the show looking at computer geek stuff and actually evaluating document imaging solutions for my job. I was there 4 or 5 days and one night I went to a blues club and one night I watched a joust (I was staying in the Excalibur, a very nice hotel with a King Arthur theme.) The last day, I drove out to the Grand Canyon – everybody, please plan to visit the Grand Canyon before you die – it’s worth the trip.

One night I went to John C. Dvorak’s private party. John is a columnist at PC Magazine and I guess you could call him a pundit. I sat up with John doing some heavy drinking and we got along well. Once or twice a year for several years afterwards, he would call me and ask my opinion on some new technology or hardware, so I must have impressed him as much as he impressed me. I have changed jobs a few times and and he never did have my home phone so I haven’t heard from him in a while. I don’t read PC Magazine – too many ads and the articles are often rehashed press releases, with only one or two meaty pieces in the zine. John works on the other side of the fence from me, so I have not really thought about him. I am a programmer. I don’t care much about marketing and the latest fad in computers. I only want the hardware so I can program it. My interest is like that of a watchmaker in a watch: I am interested in the gears, not the time. John is watching the impact of new tech on people, society and institutions. I am mildly amused by this stuff, but I am still just a hacker.

Today, John was slash-dotted, and I rediscovered his column. His article on the Killing of Wi-Fi was intense. He hit the nail on the head in his column about Search Engines. I went on and read for nearly an hour. I’ve added John C. Dvorak to my “Good Morning” group that pops up when turn on the ‘puter. Either John has gotten better or I have gotten older. His writing has a jaded, cynical edge that I don’t remember. I think John C. Dvorak’s column is required reading in the pre-singularity era.