Vindication: David Pogue Gets Hate Mail for Vista/OS X Video

Update: Matt, I appreciate that you're reading closely, but the WiredPete who made the comment was actually me – I just wasn't signed into TypePad at the time I responded to the comment...

So a couple (dozen...dozen) of my dear readers misinterpreted a recent post I made about a very funny video NY Times tech columnist David Pogue made. In the clip, he compares Microsoft Vista features to nearly identical features in Mac OS X Tiger. Pogue sarcastically defended Vista, pointing out tiny differences to pretend that he believed that Vista was original.

In recounting all of this myself, a bunch of people thoughtfully wrote to let me know that Pogue was being sarcastic and mocking Vista. Which, yeah, I know. That's why I wrote about it. My ego recovered a bit from the hit when I learned that Pogue himself got hatemail from Mac users who didn't get the joke either.

I am actually getting hate mail in response to my Times video from last week , in which I spend a few minutes, DRIPPING with sarcasm, “proving” that Microsoft didn’t steal ideas in Windows Vista from Mac OS X.

I “prove” this by demonstrating (for example) how the new Sidebar is exactly identical to the Mac’s Dashboard, but isn’t really the same thing! Why? Because Microsoft calls its little mini-programs “gadgets,” which are obviously not the same thing as “widgets” (Apple’s term). And so on.

But a few people have already written me, saying, “You must be the dumbest man in America. You think that’s a DIFFERENCE? Who the @#*#*#** cares if they use a different term? It’s EXACTLY THE SAME THING!”

David, from one dumbest man in America to another, I feel your pain. I keep hearing that sarcasm on the Internet is easier to understand when marked with smilies, but I just can't bring myself to do it, you know?

Set Sarcasm Detector to On. [NY Times]