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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.'"

5 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Power is a wonderful thing to waste by scaltagi_the_pirate · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "I don't give a fuck about your stock price!" Finally, a man with a vision. I mean, great, he might be right sometimes, but how many good technologies might this man stop with a simple off-the-cuff remark in an article? A little too much power I think.

  2. Mossberg by mfh · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Mossberg might be powerful in terms of the flow of money (ie: entropy), but the collective minds of Slashdot readers will always be more powerful in terms of long-term product/service viability because it's communities like Slashdot that truly direct the whole world-influence; if we see shit, we call it shit, and if we see gold we call it gold. Sites like Slashdot influence informed technology purchases, I would think, much more than someone like Mossberg could.

    --
    The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
  3. Mossberg is overrated by Ars-Fartsica · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In general his columns are nontechnical and harmless almost to the point of being fluffy. Walt has good intentions but I can't put his commentary above the other hundreds of gadget dudes providing pedestrian reviews of consumer electronics.

  4. Re:It's not just what he says, but where he says i by inphinity · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Mossberg actually did blast Real on several occasions for both their inability to provide a clear link to free Realplayer, as well as their big-brothered approach to "free" software.

    Although I'm not sure if he had a direct impact on their decision, soon after his columns ran, Real revamped their site to make it "easier" to download the free player...

    Go figure...

  5. Shows who really rules everything: capitalists by Sivaram_Velauthapill · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have nothing against the journalist so don't take my comment in that manner... This just goes to show how much power the capitalists have over everything. I can guarantee you that he has the impact that he does simply because WSJ is read by investors and executives.

    Sivaram Velauthapillai

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    Sivaram Velauthapillai
    Seeking the meaning of life... @slashdot of all places ;)