I’m loath to admit it, but I’m afraid that this month’s Wired magazine that came sneaking through my mail slot this afternoon is not their best work. The cover article is on Firefox, and it’s early beginnings with Blake Ross & Ben Goodger. I enjoyed getting to read about the two of them and the history on my favorite open source software. However, 1.0 came out in the Fall of last year. No one was staying up late to get this story done for print. To point, the article closes with the “where are they now” bit on Ross and Goodger, explaining that Goodger plans to stay at the Mozilla Foundation. Of course, this evening Slashdot reports that Goodger plans to go work for Google, effective two weeks ago.
In another article, the prolific Lawrence Lessig writes how Wilco is the new model for a rock band of the future. You should read his article (and pretty much anything else he writes), but again we’re not talking about any recent happenings here. Wilco broke record company hearts with Yankee Foxtrot Hotel way back in April of 2002. I was a newly-wed back then! And even then, they were about as big as bands get in the alt-country scene. Just ask my brother, Dave. I enjoyed the piece none-the-less, but Jeff Tweedy must be just as oblique in person as he is as a songwriter.
Lastly, one of the little tidbits in Wired I always look forward to, other than their FOUND: Artifacts From the Future closer each month, is the Jargon Watch. This month, they gave me:
Buttnumbathon — A painfully long and boring movie. See: Oliver Stone’s Alexander. (Better yet, don’t.) Also the name of reviewer Harry Knowles’ annual film marathon and birthday bash.
Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News has been throwing these things together for the last six years running! This is not the latest in jargon my friends.
I’m looking forward to next month’s Wired. They’ve got two months now to find some new stuff. Since MacExpo S.F. and CES L.V., maybe they’ll have at least plenty of gadgets to write about.
Hmm. After all the good things I’ve heard about Wired, now, I’m starting to wonder. I’ve only actually read one print version of this magazine. It was interesting. I’ll have to say, though, before I’ll subscribe to a cutting/bleeding-edge technology and news mag, I’d like to know if it’s really going to keep on top of things. Thanks for the caveat.
I subscribe to Wired and I don’t think this issue is going to make me change my mind about that. I really do look forward to reading it each month, and that’s why when it’s not up to average, I feel let down. I did enjoy reading the two articles I mentioned above, but I wouldn’t consider them “cutting edge”. However, I don’t read Men’s Health for the cutting edge in health news. I’d read a medical journal for that. Nope, it’s all about the great writing, which both magazines definitely have.
I was just hoping to get Wired’s views on the Mac Mini, TiVo ToGo, and some other news of the last month. For what it’s worth, they have some stories online about some of that. Different group at the web site, though.