by Jason Snell
John Siracusa hangs it up
John Siracusa isn’t going to write any more of his legendary Ars Technica reviews of OS X.
Like so many other people, I have appreciated John’s reviews over the years and am really going to miss them. My perspective is a little bit different from most, in the sense that I was always writing my own stories about OS X at the same time. It was always fascinating to see John’s reviews and marvel at their depth and volume.
How long has John been reviewing OS X? So long that when he started, I was a features editor putting together Macworld’s OS X coverage, but not yet established enough to write them myself. While I largely rewrote the magazine’s OS X 10.0 feature story, it didn’t carry my byline. It wasn’t until OS X 10.1 that my name appeared on a Macworld OS X review.
So in one way, I feel like John and I went on this journey together. In another way, sometimes I feel as old as dirt and I’m reminded that John’s OS X reviews started when I was an anonymous Macworld features editor. That was a long time ago.
Regardless, the beautiful thing about John’s announcement is that we’re not losing John. Accidental Tech Podcast is a must-listen for me every week, and I’m also fortunate to talk with John regularly on The Incomparable. We also sometimes argue about robots.
Thanks for all the Simpsons references, John. The release of the next version of OS X won’t be the same without your gigantic article (and complaints about e-book production workflows).