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The Most Powerful Man in Technology Journalism

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the old-man-murray-notwithstanding dept.

prostoalex writes "The Wired magazine takes a look at Walt Mossberg, technology columnist for Wall Street Journal Personal Technology section. The magazine quotes some of the technology advances and fixes, for which we should be thankful to Walt Mossberg: 'RealNetworks overhauled its RealJukebox player. Intuit revamped TurboTax. Mossberg even forced Microsoft to scrap Smart Tags, which would have hijacked millions of Web sites by inserting unwanted links to advertisers' sites. Few reviewers have held so much power to shape an industry's successes and failures.'"

23 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Jobs is going to be pissed. by DAldredge · · Score: 1, Funny

    Someone is using Steve Jobs RDF and he is going to be pissed!

  2. Waaaah? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    CmdrTaco isn't the most powerful man in technology journalism?

    1. Re:Waaaah? by baywulf · · Score: 2, Funny

      Look at CmdrTaco's contribution to this posting:

      "prostoalex writes"

      That is the extent of what he wrote.

    2. Re:Waaaah? by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 3, Funny

      CmdrTaco isn't even the most powerful taco in technology journalism.

      --

      "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
  3. Impossible! by klasikahl · · Score: 5, Funny

    RMS is clearly the most important voice in technology. Duh!

    1. Re:Impossible! by Curtman · · Score: 1, Funny

      Screw that.. We all know Al Gore invented the internet. Where would we be without him?

  4. Wow.... by Dingeaux · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...Jon Katz is going to be pissed too...at least until his next book arrives....

    1. Re:Wow.... by JPriest · · Score: 3, Funny

      He still posts articles here regularly, but nobody ever gets to seem them because they all have him filtered. It was worth my time to read his posts just to read all the +5 insightful comments slamming him. That man was Slashdot's verbal piñata.

      --
      Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
  5. Make it so... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Few reviewers have held so much power to shape an industry's successes and failures.'"

    Now all we need him to say is that Linux is ready for the desktop, and we are so there.

  6. Re:It's not just what he says, but where he says i by DAldredge · · Score: 1, Funny

    One reviewer doesn't have that power. The real movers and shakers in the stock market, the instutional investors, don't read the tech review section of the WSJ. They use insider info. :->

    Excuse the spelling.

  7. Re:It's not just what he says, but where he says i by sirsnork · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or when he gets Real to link to their free player from their front page :-)

    --

    Normal people worry me!
  8. Re:as powerful as mossberg may be... by catbutt · · Score: 5, Funny

    what this really tells me is that anyone who is fortunate to write for the WSJ

    Yes, fortunate....in fact WSJ picks its journalists via a lottery, and he just happened to win.

  9. Re:It's not just what he says, but where he says i by Deraj+DeZine · · Score: 2, Funny
    I'm sure that Mossberg could quickly and efficiently change the RIAA's stance on piracy.

    Or blow it out the back of their head and onto the wall behind them. I mean, whichever's faster.
    "This here? It's a twelve gauge Mossberg, kid. Two shots, you can wet, like, half a block"
    Courtesy of one of their slaves (I meant "artist," of course).
    --
    True story.
  10. And I thought that title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Belonged to Cowboy Neal!

  11. Agreed, Walt makes last months obvious calls by Ars-Fartsica · · Score: 2, Funny

    Walt's column could be in Good Housekeeping. Maybe back in the day, reviewing gadgets on a regular basis was novel, but today Walt is indistinguishable from the crowd of gadget reviewers. The Wired article was a puff piece that vastly overstated his impact (sensationalism from Wired? I'm shocked!)

  12. PBS by pipingguy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Boy, I bet Cringely is pissed.

  13. Walt makes Jerry Pournelle ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ... look like a genius.

  14. Oh yeah?!? by rtilghman · · Score: 4, Funny


    Well I've got that beat.

    This morning I woke up, ordered the sun to rise, and it rose high into the sky. The only possible conclusion is that I am the most powerful man in the world.

    Point, game, match.

    -rt

  15. Re:Hey Walt - say hi if you read Slashdot by Walt+Mossberg · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hello! Of course I read Slashdot!

    Where else do you think I get all of my information? If I was not required to cite sources to my bosses, I would not go anywhere else.

  16. Most powerful man in technology journalism? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Cowboyneal!

  17. Re:Hey Walt - say hi if you read Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    Walt! Is it really you? Say something only you and I would know - Bill from 6th grade?

    Remember that day we skipped school, down by the railroad tracks I showed you those panties and you were sniffing them? I said I got them from Zelda Pierceton and that I popped her cherry. They were really my sisters. I just pulled them off the dirty laundry pile. I just wanted you to think I was cool.

  18. Re:as powerful as mossberg may be... by wagemonkey · · Score: 2, Funny
    So maybe one day the dream of collabroatively (sic)-filtered journalism will come true, and then only the ideas, and not the people who have them, will count.
    You mean like /. ?

    Well, maybe if everyone posted as AC...

  19. Re:as powerful as mossberg may be... by gilgongo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey yeah!

    I just never noticed because all my posts gets modded down :-)

    --
    "And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"