Headlines like "H.P.’s TouchPad Tablet Was Bound to Be a Flop, Some Say" are a blight on journalism, and it's another dent in the reputation of NYT to feature something that reads like that.
Everyone can see that the touchpad is a major flop, so it's easy to just write some hindsight fluff piece about it. It's ridiculous to write about the inevitability of the device's failure after the fact; the only way to write in this tone is to write the article before the fact, unless you intend to revel in someone's failure.
Even so, they use weasel words like "... some say", which they no doubt will use to hide their snipe piece behind. In other words, as certain as it seems that the touchpad was a complete and utter dud, and how ever epimethean and arrogantly the piece reads in its hindsight and rationalization, they still waffle on arguing their point rigourously and confidently.
I can only hope Brian Chen himself didn't write the headline, because that would at least serve to redeem the intention of the article.
As long as the article has named sources saying essentially that it was doomed, identifying the "some" who "say", and those people are in a position to know, then I don't have a problem with it.
If the "bound to flop" comes from unnamed sources flinging poo, and possibly just lying, then it's a problem.
Everyone can see that the touchpad is a major flop, so it's easy to just write some hindsight fluff piece about it. It's ridiculous to write about the inevitability of the device's failure after the fact; the only way to write in this tone is to write the article before the fact, unless you intend to revel in someone's failure.
Even so, they use weasel words like "... some say", which they no doubt will use to hide their snipe piece behind. In other words, as certain as it seems that the touchpad was a complete and utter dud, and how ever epimethean and arrogantly the piece reads in its hindsight and rationalization, they still waffle on arguing their point rigourously and confidently.
I can only hope Brian Chen himself didn't write the headline, because that would at least serve to redeem the intention of the article.