Andrew Orlowski

Collected Journalism

  • Windows 8’s Metro means no gain for lots of pain

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    By far the most ill-judged design decision I can remember – Andrew

    The public preview of Windows 8 has won “rave reviews” according to the Daily Mail, the newspaper that claims to reflect Middle England and is proudly conservative in every sense of the word. The Mail, it’ll have you know, is a feisty opponent of “change for the sake of it”.

    So not only do I fear that somebody has spiked the water supply at the Kensington HQ … Read More

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  • Peak Oil: RIP
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    Peak Oil: RIP

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    The idea that seized the imaginations of the bien pensant chattering classes in the Noughties – “Peak Oil” – is no longer relevant. So says the commodities team at Citigroup, and policy-makers would be wise to examine the trends they’ve identified.

    “Peak Oil” is the point at which the production of conventional crude oil begins an irreversible decline. The effect of this, some say, is that scarcity-induced prices rises would require huge changes in modern industrial societies. For some, Peak … Read More

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  • French National Front woos internet pirates

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    The leader of the French National Front party, Marine Le Pen, wants Hadopi scrapped and replaced with a blanket licence to compensate creative industries. The extreme right party’s freetard-friendly gambit has caused the Socialists, who also oppose Hadopi, to rethink their policies.… Read More

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  • The angry internet runs on Pseudo Masochism™

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    A mob that’s filled with self-righteous fury isn’t very discriminating.

    In 2000 an angry crowd attacked a paediatrician after he was mistakenly named as a paedophile. Last year the Olympic cyclist Chris Hoy was abused by football fans who mistook him for match referee Chris Foy. And last month, a small Scottish farm certification agency, SOPA, received torrents of abuse from ‘digital rights’ campaigners who were upset about the United States’ proposed Stop Online Piracy Act.

    Once it’s got its … Read More

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  • Don’t shoot the Blackberry Messenger

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    BBM does things no web social network can do… it mirrors the flexibility of real life

    RIM’s fortunes have taken a catastrophic, Nokia-style nosedive in the past year – but it has a chance of pulling up. Admittedly, the odds are long, but this week the Canadian company began its fightback.

    It’s certainly right up against it.

    Fewer enterprise customers are dependent on RIM’s email servers. The trend to ‘bring your own’ device to work, one that works well enough … Read More

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  • “Daddy, what’s a Press License?”

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    It’s 2020, and a young girl is doing her homework…

    “Daddy, what’s a press licence?”

    “Oh, that. Well a press licence allows you to call yourself a journalist and get into official events, for official journalists.”

    “What for?”

    “Well you get into events held by the government or a company, or for example a football club, and can then write about them.”

    “So it’s like a parking permit. But I don’t understand. Everybody is writing about everything anyway. On the … Read More

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