One of the funniest things he used to do was write draft reviews of software simply by looking at the back of the box. He said you could get it like 90% right just doing that, I was a different era.
I also remember Leo Laporte constantly trying to take his phone back of him as John was trying to guess his passcode or unlock pattern based on the screen smudges.
Didn't agree with him at lot but he always brought something to the table.
Damn.. images of glossy PC Magazines that I used to read are filling my head.. growing up in the 80s & 90s with computer building and reselling as the family business, and just being excited about new technology, and he was a part of that.
Dvorak hated that for decades wikipedia had the wrong birth year and refused to let him change it. He wrote at length about how wikipedia is the antithesis of the entire conception of a wiki. He was 80, born in 1946.
I found very quickly an NYT article from 1993 that listed his date of birth as "April 5, 1952". I don't know if that's the source for the Wikipedia article but that info has been around for a long time, it seems.
I loved reading his columns at PC Magazine growing up, it's an end of an era. He had such an interesting view of the PC industry as a whole and his column was almost always the first thing I read when a new issue would arrive at my house.
Agree, and the sad thing for me now is not being able to find an equivalent space of such crankiness against the way things are going with an authoritative voice.
I grew up reading his column in PC Mag, then watched him on TechTV, and then listened to him on TWiT (where he was consistently the best part of the show, and being how I learned about Sarbanes-Oxley, because he'd bring it up like every episode for a good long while there), and later No Agenda. Before I'd realized it, John had be come the constant throughline as technology progressed throughout my life. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later, but it still really hurts to see him go.
For those like me wondering if he's also the creator of the Dvorak keyboard, no but close!
> He is a nephew of sociologist August Dvorak, creator of the Dvorak keyboard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Dvorak
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_keyboard_layout
He was the creator of Cranky Geeks. One of the first podcasts I listened to.
He’s also been a bit right wing cranky in his twitter feed.
This is sad.
I grew up watching his show on Tech TV.
He used to butt heads with Leo Laporte and it was great:
https://youtu.be/C96YG7qzN80?t=142
That tiny 1"x1.5" thumbnail[1] of John C. Dvorak in PC Magazine was the essence of Gravitas for me as a kid.
[1]https://archive.org/details/PC-Mag-1999-12-14/page/88/mode/2...
I'm not young, but I didn't know we were using "killer app" back in 1999. Wikipedia has an example from 1988.
The more you know.
I used to transcribe his articles to a text file and post them to Usenet. Fond memories of that time.
What a legend.
same, read a lot of what he wrote back then.
Credit to him, he always had a bold take.
One of the funniest things he used to do was write draft reviews of software simply by looking at the back of the box. He said you could get it like 90% right just doing that, I was a different era.
I also remember Leo Laporte constantly trying to take his phone back of him as John was trying to guess his passcode or unlock pattern based on the screen smudges.
Didn't agree with him at lot but he always brought something to the table.
Most of what I know him for was coming on TWiT, driving Leo Laporte nuts, and making claims that ended up not coming true.
He was a hilarious curmudgeon. He will be missed.
> he always had a bold take
Often quite literally, in his PC Magazine columns!
Damn.. images of glossy PC Magazines that I used to read are filling my head.. growing up in the 80s & 90s with computer building and reselling as the family business, and just being excited about new technology, and he was a part of that.
Oh man, that's an old school name.
I miss cranky geeks, to the point where I've gone back to listen to older episodes.
I miss them so much, I became one!
RIP, gonna mis listening to your conversations with Adam, link to the last no agenda show (podcast): https://www.noagendashow.net/listen/1887
I first become aware of John C. Dvorak in Byte magazine, ( back in the 80s?) to me he was a respected insigtful interesting content wrighter.
The post link above says he was 74, THe wikipedia page says 80. I gues one will be corrected. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Dvorak
RIP
Dvorak hated that for decades wikipedia had the wrong birth year and refused to let him change it. He wrote at length about how wikipedia is the antithesis of the entire conception of a wiki. He was 80, born in 1946.
I found very quickly an NYT article from 1993 that listed his date of birth as "April 5, 1952". I don't know if that's the source for the Wikipedia article but that info has been around for a long time, it seems.
Dvorak shaped the emerging PC industry. Larger than life figure. Sad he's not here for the AI takeover.
I used to watch his podcast ~20 years ago, I still bring up how excited he was about finding secret bottles of wine in costco
I clicked on this link with my 'experimental pointing device called a mouse'. Rest in peace from all the ships at sea.
I loved reading his columns at PC Magazine growing up, it's an end of an era. He had such an interesting view of the PC industry as a whole and his column was almost always the first thing I read when a new issue would arrive at my house.
https://www.pcmag.com/authors/john-c-dvorak
He went all-in on his takes. Most were on the money, some were big misses. He was very good at what he did. R.I.P.
https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/reddits-wild-west-experiment-...
https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/the-30-year-ai-scare-cycle
https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/the-dark-ages-of-search
https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/enough-with-the-3d-printer-hy...
Goodness. First came across his work watching Silicon Spin on ZDTV while I was in high school. Such a legend.
Here is an old column of his, "New Architecture Needed"
https://www.pcmag.com/archive/new-architecture-needed-32570
In my youth, his InfoWorld columns were appointment reading. A one-of-a-kind in the industry.
Agree, and the sad thing for me now is not being able to find an equivalent space of such crankiness against the way things are going with an authoritative voice.
May he write some excellent reviews of the technology in the afterlife. Thanks for all the great reads, John!
Used to watch him regularly on ZDTV. RIP
https://youtu.be/ur296s3wIv4
ITM, RIP
He was our Andy Rooney. RIP.
Rough year for the cranky geeks cast.
That’s very sad. I enjoyed his contributions to PC Mag and TWiT.
Was this the guy that always had it out for Apple, and was somewhat notorious with bad Apple predictions?
He was a thoughtful and insightful writer. I eagerly awaited his PC Magazine article every single week.
I grew up reading his column in PC Mag, then watched him on TechTV, and then listened to him on TWiT (where he was consistently the best part of the show, and being how I learned about Sarbanes-Oxley, because he'd bring it up like every episode for a good long while there), and later No Agenda. Before I'd realized it, John had be come the constant throughline as technology progressed throughout my life. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later, but it still really hurts to see him go.
Still an opportunity to edit his wiki if anyone wants to be the official Bear of Bad News(tm)
Sad news, I grew up reading his column.
I loved listening to him on TWiT and other shows/podcasts. RIP, what a legend.
He was the house curmudgeon - hilarious
Wasn't he the one who famously said the iBook looked like a toilet seat?
Last tweet by him just 2 days ago.
What a bummer.
RIP
I'd say this def rates a black bar.