Disclosure
Disclosure Dept.
Okay, for those of you that haven't been with me from the beginning, Mobius works like this. Microsoft pays for me to fly out to Redmond, they put me up in a four-star hotel for a few days, then they feed me, show me technology demonstrations and give me cool stuff to play with. In exchange, I tell them and you guys what I really think about all of it. I sugar-coat nothing, and some of you may recall that I lambasted Microsoft over Pocket Word's deficiencies a couple of years ago.
I bring this up because this whole "journalistic integrity" thing has reared its ugly head yet again. Mitch Ratcliffe has a bit on his blog questioning the reliability of comments by people beholden to the subject of their comments.
Let's get this straight right here and now. I'm beholden to no one. I understand why Microsoft spent roughly $2,000 on me last weekend, but that was their call, not mine. If they want to pay my way, I won't stop them. But you know what? I won't pull my punches, either.
I think Smart Display (formerly known as Mira) is a neat idea that will be a complete consumer failure unless it's bundled with new systems. Tablet PC, much as I like it, will be much more usable if/when you can choose between cursive and printing styles for recognition (it currently assumes cursive, and doesn't handle printing all that well).
But it goes deeper than that. This site has never been about hard-core journalism. I call myself a columnist for a reason. I'm an opinionated pain in the ass, but I'm honest about it. I'll tell you if I think something rocks and I'll tell you if I think it sucks. Either way, it's just my opinion. Take it or leave it for what it's worth.
Just know that what I tell you is what I believe. I don't give a toasted damn who paid for what. I would hope you don't either.
Okay, for those of you that haven't been with me from the beginning, Mobius works like this. Microsoft pays for me to fly out to Redmond, they put me up in a four-star hotel for a few days, then they feed me, show me technology demonstrations and give me cool stuff to play with. In exchange, I tell them and you guys what I really think about all of it. I sugar-coat nothing, and some of you may recall that I lambasted Microsoft over Pocket Word's deficiencies a couple of years ago.
I bring this up because this whole "journalistic integrity" thing has reared its ugly head yet again. Mitch Ratcliffe has a bit on his blog questioning the reliability of comments by people beholden to the subject of their comments.
Let's get this straight right here and now. I'm beholden to no one. I understand why Microsoft spent roughly $2,000 on me last weekend, but that was their call, not mine. If they want to pay my way, I won't stop them. But you know what? I won't pull my punches, either.
I think Smart Display (formerly known as Mira) is a neat idea that will be a complete consumer failure unless it's bundled with new systems. Tablet PC, much as I like it, will be much more usable if/when you can choose between cursive and printing styles for recognition (it currently assumes cursive, and doesn't handle printing all that well).
But it goes deeper than that. This site has never been about hard-core journalism. I call myself a columnist for a reason. I'm an opinionated pain in the ass, but I'm honest about it. I'll tell you if I think something rocks and I'll tell you if I think it sucks. Either way, it's just my opinion. Take it or leave it for what it's worth.
Just know that what I tell you is what I believe. I don't give a toasted damn who paid for what. I would hope you don't either.
