Andrew Orlowski

Collected Journalism

  • “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…

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  • Five ways to rescue Windows Phone

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    Andrew Orlowski

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      Windows Phone might be the most impressive bit of software Microsoft has produced – but it isn’t setting the world on fire. The iPhone and Android go from strength to strength – the latter proliferating so widely even Google doesn’t know how many Android systems are out there. (It can’t count the Chinese forks…

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  • Furious freetards blitz the wrong SOPA

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    Angry copyfighters barraged a small Scottish food certification agency with abuse last week – in the belief they were protesting against hated US anti-piracy legislation. The Scottish Organic Producers Association – whose website is at sopa.org.uk – was perplexed when it found itself on the receiving of dozens of nasty and illiterate emails. Remarkably, nothing…

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  • We can ditch the laws when the Valley’s snotty web teens grow up

    We can ditch the laws when the Valley’s snotty web teens grow up

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    I am going to propose something that may sound radical, but really isn’t. Legislation like SOPA ideally isn’t necessary in an ideal world, and this idea comes about through voluntary agreement. The Stop Online Piracy Act was proposed because of a tragic impasse, a lack of agreement between two powerful and deeply entrenched sides. Although…

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  • Perhaps there’s no ‘Third Ecosystem’?

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    There’s a whiff of something – it isn’t desperation, more like earnest exasperation – around Microsoft’s phone business these days Humiliatingly, Nokia was forced to deny rumours last week that it was planning to break up and sell its crown jewels to Microsoft. Normally a company can remain impervious to Twitter-born gossip, particularly from a…

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  • Parody is illegal, say barmy bureaucrats

    Parody is illegal, say barmy bureaucrats

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    Andrew Orlowski

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    The IPO chose Office Party Friday last week to unveil 15 more proposals on intellectual property reform. This is traditionally the most alcoholic workday of the year – and ministers might need another stiff drink as they digest the surprises that ideologically fanatical bureaucrats have been preparing for them.   Among the proposals is the…

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