John Dvorak is the Jayson Blair of Computer Journalists

So Roger Born sends an email via the MyMac.com staff email list mentioning a new online column by John Dvorak over at PCMag.com. Like an idiot, I go and read it, as well as Bruce’s blog post about it. I have to wonder, why does PC Magazine even have Dvorak as a writer anymore? His observations are usually dour and anti-Apple. The guy has predicted the doom of the Macintosh for, what, ten-years now? And over and over, he is proven wrong each and every time. He is a PC journalist of the Jayson Blair variety, and should command no more respect.

But he writes well enough that many believe his tripe as gospel. He really does write in such a way that you feel he does know what he is talking about. But his track record of attacking all things Macintosh in a legitimate magazine has proven what a hack he really is, and his latest, tired article on the Mac market share is simply another reason PC Magazine would be best served without his columns. It drags the entire legitimacy of a real news source down.

His latest argument, honestly, is that since the Macintosh is easier to use, it should be cheaper than a PC. Seriously, that is his argument. In the real world, I would think that the product with the major flaws in security and functionality would be cheaper, as the cost of maintaining even a semblance of a working system for the average user is much more expensive than any Macintosh ever built.

He writes: “His (Steve Jobs) attention to the Apple flagship has been eroded by the success of Pixar, and more recently, by the iPod and iTunes initiatives. None of these has anything to do with the Macintosh. Keeping it on track is a full-time task—Jobs cannot be in the computer business, the movie business, and the music business and make them all successful. You see the results. Market share for the Mac is crap.”

Looking at Apple or Pixar stock does not bear out that argument at all. In fact, just the opposite is true. The successes of the iPod and iTunes on Windows PC’s have had the opposite effect with users than Dvorak would lead you to believe. Many PC users, after using both an iPod and iTunes, have taken a longer look at the Mac, and many are making the jump and moving away from Windows. Many newspaper and magazine articles have noticed the trend as well, and have been reporting just that.

But Dvorak bases all his numbers upon but one source, the W3C. He writes, “The Mac platform is essentially stagnant. That becomes obvious when you look at the declining market share numbers—not from research firms, but from the W3C, which monitors online activity. As of December 2004, the Mac share as measured by online activity is 2.7 percent”

Okay, let’s for one moment ignore any other research firm numbers (which only look at units sold, not units in use) and only go by the W3C figures. But rather than look at only that 2.7% figure, let us instead look at it from March 2003 to December 2004, shall we?

December 2004 = 2.7%
November 2004 = 2.7%
October 2004 = 2.6%
September 2004 = 2.6%
August 2004 = 2.5%
July 2004 = 2.4%
June 2004 = 2.5%
May 2004 = 2.5%
April 2004 = 2.5%
March 2004 = 2.4%
February 2004 = 2.5%
January 2004 = 2.4%
December 2003 = 2.3%
November 2003 = 2.2%
October 2003 = 2.1%
September 2003 = 2.0%
August 2003 = 2.0%
July 2003 = 1.9%
June 2003 = 1.8%
May 2003 = 1.8%
April 2003 = 1.8%
March 2003 = 1.8%

Well, that paints a little bit of a different picture, now doesn’t it? According to those numbers, the Macintosh had only a 1.8% market share in March 2003, but a 2.7% market share in December 2004.

So by using the same flawed numbers Dvorak uses, the Macintosh market share actually grew by almost a full percentage point in that time. How is that possible? And where in his “Apple is doomed” article does Jayson Blair John Dvorak make that point? Oh, he doesn’t, because those numbers don’t coincide with his flawed logic.

So, once again to no ones surprise, John Dvorak is proven not only wrong, but that he has a personal grudge against either Apple Computers, the Macintosh, or Steve Jobs, and will conceal the truth to make up lies.

Sad.