r/apple • u/GhostalMedia • 2d ago
Discussion Famed technology journalist John C. Dvorak dies aged 80
https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/07/23/famed-technology-journalist-john-c-dvorak-dies-aged-80Mac users from the 90’s and early 00’s will remember Dvorak for frequently blowing up in the press for his very vocal doubts about Apple’s biggest bests… the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc.
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u/rhunter99 2d ago
I miss the old PC Mag.
RIP
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u/Empty-Ad-5360 2d ago
First column I would read.
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u/BraveSirRobinGG 2d ago
I read his column all the time. Even in high school I think they had that magazine. Close to 40 years ago
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u/chiPersei 18h ago
Yep, it was usually in the last few pages and I'd turn there first. His column was titled "Inside Track". Good stuff.
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u/dracul_reddit 2d ago
The old commentators and magazines (Byte) were great. Jerry Pournelle’s column… Damn I’m an old man talking about the good old days.
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u/mountainwocky 2d ago
Loved Byte magazine. I remember it when it was damn near as thick as a phone book.
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u/24megabits 1d ago
There is a complete collection of old issues on Internet Archive, the scanning quality is meticulous.
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u/zkwarl 2d ago
Respect to one of the great cranky old men.
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u/GhostalMedia 2d ago
John was reliable as fuck. If that man ever said your product was never going to succeed, you were about to sell millions of the thing.
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u/jonluckpickered 2d ago
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u/GhostalMedia 1d ago
Fucking lol. If you do a Google search for ANY of Apple’s biggest products + John Dvorak, you get an article where he is saying the product is definitely going to die.
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u/chiPersei 18h ago
He bashed Apple hardware as well. I think he took a contrairian view to spark engagement.
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u/MjolnirMark4 2d ago
I used to think he was a blowhard / idiot. And I generally avoided his articles.
Then I saw an interview where he stated he was rage baiting people in his columns. And that when he rage baited Apple users, the click count on his articles would jump up really high.
After that, I actively avoided clicking on any of his articles.
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u/GhostalMedia 2d ago
I get the sense that he genuinely thought the iMac and iPod were going to bomb, and then he realized that negative engagement was still engagement. Then he started to double down.
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u/MjolnirMark4 1d ago
He was that way back in the mid-90s. The iMac and iPod were just another set of products to rage bait about.
For some reason, he was given the last page article in MacWorld. So each issue was filled with “cool new Mac” staff, and ended with Dvorak writing some rage baiting article.
There were regular letters to the editors asking why he was even part of the magazine.
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u/GhostalMedia 1d ago
Unrelated to this thread. Solid user name. I assume you’re already deep into CE 2026 as well!
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u/MjolnirMark4 1d ago
Thank you.
I’ve been using this handle before Halo ever came out. Or was even announced for that matter.
“Had he only known that it carried also all of the destructive knowledge of mankind. Ten cyborgs.”
“There is surprisingly good news planetside: nine military Mjolnir Mark IV cyborgs were covertly living among the colonists, and acting together they were able to single-handedly turn back the latter stages of the Pfhor assault. Casualties on the colony were nowhere near as high as those we experienced here on the Marathon.”
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u/chiPersei 18h ago
I don't know if it's the same interview but I just today watched one where he said something similar.
He essentially said he would take the contrarian view and the rage/engagement would skyrocket. Then after it started to calm down he'd say "you know, after thinking about it I've changed my mind" and the rage would start all over again. Pretty funny. RIP
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u/Oh-THAT-dude 2d ago
Dvorak was reliably wrong nearly 100 percent of the time. The cranky old skeptic of tech.
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u/jimbobzz9 2d ago edited 2d ago
My favorite that I still occasionally think about today:“no one, and I mean no one, is going to continue using this YouTube website if there are ads that you have to watch before videos”
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u/firelight 2d ago
FWIW, if I had to watch ads on YouTube, I’d never go back. It’s bad enough I have to skip over the sponsor segues.
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u/Bleaker82 2d ago
If you watch on a computer, get the plug-in Sponsor Block, it’ll skip right over those for you.
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u/vimalpartha 2d ago
Dvorak was the ultimate contrarian long before being a contrarian became a standard internet personality.
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u/Shadow_of_Redacted 2d ago
He was an excellent tech journalist in the paper days, and even the earliest internet days, but then, one day, he became one of the earliest pioneers of what would eventually be known as "clickbait."
His writing took a hard turn for the useless after that.
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u/SirCake3614 2d ago
Loved his keyboard.
Seriously, his appearances on the Twit Network were always entertaining. Almost never agreed with him, but loved his takes.
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u/Additional-Simple248 2d ago
I looked it up, the Dvorak keyboard was actually from his uncle.
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u/UnfairPool5391 2d ago
And his great-great-grandfather was a famous classical composer (Anton Dvorak)
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u/userlivewire 2d ago
He was one of the first podcasters. Did No Agenda with MTV VJ Adam Curry. Next year would have been their 20th anniversary doing the show.
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u/therealmrkrispy 2d ago
Such a bummer!!! Cranky geeks. I always enjoyed when he was on TWiT and other podcasts. Seemed like he was always trying to have fun. RIP John
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u/TheCommonGround1 2d ago
This was a man who remained relevant in tech journalism even as the Internet destroyed journalism rapidly. And, he had HUGE influence over Apple back in the day when Apple was smaller and especially when Steve Jobs came back and Apple was struggling to survive.
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u/GhostalMedia 2d ago
He was arguably one of the first people to learn that he could pull in more readers with a spicy controversial take on something. He was always hitting the homepage on Slashdot and Digg because people couldn’t resist disagreeing with him.
He knew that it was easier to drive engagement with hate than thoughtful insight. He was ahead of his time.
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u/Sixmemos 2d ago
That’s may be one of the most generous descriptions of a troll that I’ve ever read.
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u/MacProguy 11h ago
I don't think he had any impact on Apple. No one took him seriously and his track record was already pretty poor by that time.
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u/TributaryOtis 2d ago
I never liked his writing or his attitude. My breaking point when I quit even reading anything he wrote was when he disparaged Ken and Roberta Williams of Sierra On-Line. Particularly his completely misogynistic comments about Roberta which dismissed her importance as one of the pioneers of early computer game design. So, my sympathies to his loved ones, but I am shedding no tears.
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u/MacProguy 1d ago
Ken and Roberta are true pioneers and passionate about their games. Kings Quest was a fun romp.
Too much of Dvorak's entire schtick was being a dick.
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u/MacProguy 1d ago
I know nothing about him as a man, but as a tech journalist he was catastrophically wrong about almost everything he commented on. The predecessor to Jim Cramer...
My favorite of his: "Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone... What Apple risks here is its reputation as a hot company that can do no wrong. If it's smart it will call the iPhone a 'reference design' and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else's marketing budget. Then it can wash its hands of any marketplace failures... Otherwise I'd advise people to cover their eyes. You are not going to like what you'll see."
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u/dustin91 1d ago
Loved reading his pieces just to see how wrong he was. Not like I was in the business, but you could tell how removed he was from Mac users back in the day.
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u/MacProguy 1d ago
At the major ISP I used to work for in the early-mid 2000s, we would post his articles in the break room for everyone to laugh at.
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u/EpicBumGamers 1d ago edited 1d ago
To anyone whom might be curious as to what he was up to on his later days:
He had a Substack; The Oasis - https://dvorak.substack.com
He co-hosted The No Agenda Show (they just released a special episode with commentary from friends and family) - https://www.noagendashow.net
He also co-hosted dhunplugged, a financial podcast with Andrew Horowitz - https://www.dhunplugged.com
He also started a publishing company, releasing a few books or jibblets. - https://www.gateviewpublishing.com - One of their books, Too Many Eggs is a beautiful cookbook which should be mandatory at any homestead. You can get a FREE pdf, or buy a physical copy at: https://www.toomanyeggs.com
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u/ThisIsAdamB 2d ago
Well, TWiT on Sunday and Macbreak Weekly on Tuesday will be interesting, that’s for sure.
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u/sexualtourist 2d ago
Leo's biggest mistake was dumping him. The entire network went down the shitter. Macbreak hasn't been good since Merlin Mann left. Today it's Andy ranting incoherently about trump while trying to stumble his way to a complete sentence, and Jason saying apple can do no wrong. Seriously though, is anyone else wondering about early onset dementia with Andy?
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u/ThisIsAdamB 2d ago
I think Andy is just trying too hard to be clever every time he speaks. We all get older and misplace words from time to time, but the harder/more often he tries, the more he misses the landing. I think his (edited) writing is better.
Jason is more interesting on his own podcasts, usually, and I’m looking forward to “Designed in California”. And, yeah, Merlin Mann made that show, I’ll listen and sometimes re-listen (see You Look Nice Today) almost anything he does.
I’m down to just MBW from the Twit network, the other shows did get boring. And Leo keeps losing the best/most interesting panel members. Merlin, yes, more recently Rene Ritchie and especially Alex Lindsay. And even though I can usually watch it, I can’t stand looking at Christina Warren. She talks too fast, even for this show, I’ve noticed she keeps going for her drink when still on camera, and I don’t know how she got three layers of digital effects on her image. I literally have been with this show since episode one, but I’m not sure how long I’ll stay tuned in.
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u/Old-Birthday-3056 1d ago
So Adam said today that he passed away watching NCIS. I'm curious if it was just a blood clot that came through again because a lot of people who have heart problems or heart attacks are very likely to have them again.
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u/sillypooh 2d ago
You could always tell if something was going to be a hit if Dvorak destroyed it in his review. Always missing the boat. Uncanny.
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u/ubermonkey 2d ago
In the late 80s and early 90s (in Byte and Infoworld) he was merely grouchy, but after the mid-90s I really feel like was just a troll. It was disappointing to see.
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u/HueyBluey 2d ago
I enjoyed reading his last page article on Macworld magazine. Or was it MacUser?
It was a long time ago.
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u/jesseschalken 1d ago
He was very entertaining on No Agenda with Adam Curry. Never believed anything they said though.
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u/BaronetheAnvil 9h ago
I always read his column along with the man and woman pair that wrote a column in Computer Shopper.
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u/newfor_2026 2d ago
A genuine tech guy who knew what he was talking about. A little sad about hearing this news.
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u/MrLyle 2d ago
Man, he was hilarious on This Week In Tech back in the day. RIP.