[LINK] Ars-End

[Roger Clarke]

[While I'm in grizzle mode, here's one for the other RC's collection]


>http://66.225.202.210/news.ars/post/20080106-despite-problems-consumers-choosing-vista-over-xp.html

>  ... consumers apparently choose Vista over XP by a 7:1 margin. ...

That's the kind of reporting that causes me to abandon an information-source.

The reporter uses an all-purpose qualifier ("apparently") to qualify 
a strong verb ("choose"), in order to convey what now seems like 
information.

Rubbish.  Few people "choose" an OS.  They buy a computer.  They put 
up with whatever OS comes with it.  Which OS comes with it is 
determined by forces that they see as being outside their control. 
(At the individual level, 'they' are right.  If consumers had as much 
intelligence as a swarm of insects, 'they' would be wrong).

The subbie let the article through, including that and other inadequacies.

The editor condones a form of reporting that belongs in Murdoch trash.

And people like me hereafter treat Ars Technica as a lost cause.


Please feel free to re-post.  By all means cc. Ars;  but wide 
distribution is what a media organisation listens to, not 
directly-addressed feedback.

Feel free to include my .sig.  But make sure that it's clear that I 
used to regard Ars as a substantial cut above what they've come down 
to.  And that I couldn't actually care all that much what the 
relative sale-rates of old and new versions of MS OS are;  I'm much 
more concerned about focusing my limited attention span on sources 
that don't resort to devices like that.


-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW