Somewhat OT: Times Co. threatens to shutter Boston Globe.

[Dan.Strassberg]

Oh, come off it, Kevin!

I'm older than you, I'm sure, and I have personally owned personal
computers for more than 25 years (the first one was an Apple ][+,
which I still have, though I haven't powered it up in at least 15
years). I owe my ability to do the job (writing, editing) that I have
been doing first full-time and for the last six years as a
semi-retired part-timer to my familiarity with personal computers. I
still can't type, and the only reason you can read this is that using
a computer enables me to correct the dozens of mistakes I make in
every paragraph. My point in telling you all this is to demonstrate
that I am conversant with personal computers, and despite my age, I am
not computer phobic.

I do sometimes read news items on-line--mostly at NYTimes.com and
occasionally at Boston.com. But get the f!@#$ off your high horse and
quit preaching (I'm referring here to your rather arrogant message to
Donna); you are making an @!# of yourself! Asking people like me and
most people 10 or 15 years younger, who still officially qualify as
boomers, to give up newspapers and other print media and get the
content on-line is just plain foolishness. Even though I am
comfortable with mice, keyboards, and high-resolution color displays,
I find reading from a screen (even a laptop screen) just not the same
as reading from a newspaper, magazine, or book. I haven't tried a
Kindle, so I can't speak about that experience; it might be OK. I
gather that the Kindle is OK for reading in bed and is probably OK for
reading while clinging to a handrail on the T.

And don't tell me that the Herald is a substitute for the Globe. The
Times might do--except that it lacks much coverage of Boston--but the
Herald would not. However, if the Times is not to disappear from
newsstands around Boston, the Times Company had better start now to
set up distribution with the Herald. My newsdealer informed me this
morning that the Globe delivers not just the Globe and the Times to
all of the newsstands in these parts but also the Wall St Journal and
Barron's.

-----
Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
eFax 1-707-215-6367

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kevin Vahey" <kvahey@comcast.net>
To: "Donna Halper" <dlh@donnahalper.com>
Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 10:37 PM
Subject: Re: Somewhat OT: Times Co. threatens to shutter Boston Globe.


> Donna some 20 years ago I was terrified of computers because I
> recall
> looking at a :c prompt and wondering now what do I do...but I also
> knew to survive I had to learn
>
> I got in the habit of buying the 3 morning papers late at night on
> the
> way home from an old man named Pete in Harvard Sq and they cost a
> dime
> each. In 72 it became 2 morning papers and when the afternoon Globe
> folded I started to buy the NY Post just for something to read.
> Big advantage for print advertising over radio-tv or internet is you
> might decided to relook at an ad a few minutes after glancing at it.
> I can not fathom life without newspapers