Mistake in AP story about Steve Jobs...

From: Computer Collector E-Mail Newsletter <news_at_computercollector.com>
Date: Sun Aug 1 19:49:36 2004

Hi all... I just read this AP story about Jobs having surgery for a non-fatal
form of cancer. The story is here:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040802/ap_on_bi_ge/steve_jobs_cancer&cid=509&ncid=716

I called the AP's office to report the mistake that you'll all notice: in the
story's next-to-last paragraph, it says "In 1984, the company released the
Macintosh, which was the first computer to have a graphical user interface that
mimicked a physical desktop."

I ** cringed ** when I read that. As most of you know by now, I'm a tech
reporter for a living, and a collector, and thus HATE when the mainstream media
doesn't even make an attempt to get this shit right. So I explained to an AP
editor what the mistake is. I explained to him that the distinction is NOT a
tiny technical loophole, but rather a glaring error that anyone who knows
anything about computer history will laugh at (after they finish crying).

I could understand a weekend reporter making this mistake, but in the story's
byline it says the writer is a technology reporter. You'd think he would know
the difference...

 - Evan
Received on Sun Aug 01 2004 - 19:49:36 BST

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