John Dvorak is a codger

"Back in my day, we wrote data to disks using magnets, and we didn't have screens, only blinking lights, which tapped out Morse Code, which we were all fluent in, and the computers didn't play games, or run spreadsheets, they did serious business work, and it took us all day to write a 'Hello, World' program, and we liked it!!!!"

Specifically, Dvorak's saying that there are no computer hobbyists, and he tries to lay the blame around. His argument takes a couple of prongs, so my rebuttal will have to do the same. Let me frame by frame it...

1. Computers change too rapidly, making the hobby expensive.
   Rebuttal: Sure, the speed with which computers advance, and the options you have before you is staggering, and it seems that you need to upgrade your computer every couple of years. But you also have a very wide breadth of choices in front of you. Desktop? Laptop? Tablet? PDA? Intel? AMD? PPC? SPARC? We certainly don't have the many disparate systems we had in the 80's, what with the Commodore 64s, Apples, TRS-80s and so on. But while the base architecture's have stabilized, everyone has a favorite choice for graphics card, sound card, monitor, etc. Not only that, but operating systems, you have the choice of Windows, Mac, the BSDs, Linux, Sun, and some others that hang at the fringes, like BeOS. I think it's different than what Dvorak says. We have too many choices now, and each choice is so rich with possibility that it's hard to dabble in both. You find plenty of language hobbyists, and OS hobbyists, and system hobbyists.
2. The original hobbyists had programming tools at their disposal, and programming was easy.
   Rebuttal: John's not looking at the language scene very closely, or at the choices available. Windows seems pretty slim in its language offerings on a base machine. HTML, Javascript, and the Windows Scripting Host. bleh. But certainly not hard to use, or learn. Beyond that, you can easily get a whole slew of good languages for free: Python, Perl, Ruby, Rebol, Tcl, Lisp, even the .NET Framework from Windows to do full-fledged Windows development is free! Jump platforms and you get the same amount of choices, usually installed already for you. In fact, these days, think about a language you like to use on a computer, and you're going to find it available for all of the platforms you'll use. Macs even ship with something called AppleScript, which provides you with a direct hook into operating system to create macros and run them as scripts.
   
   None of these languages require a college degree to use, or any serious exposure to programming concepts, though it certainly will make your programs more effective. But that's no different than if I picked up some carpentry skills. It'd make me more effective with a hammer, but I don't need it to use one.
3. Software's both boring, and difficult to use
   Rebuttal: Here, John's saying we have no choice in software. If you want to use a spreadsheet program, you have to use Excel. A word processor: Word. And if you try to use one of the "standard programs", say Photoshop, it's difficult to use, and intimidating. I'm not going to defend Photoshop because it is a big and complex piece of software, but that's what it's supposed to be! It's a $500 piece of software, built by professional artists for professional artists. There are easier to use tools for photo editing, and they're cheaper and easier to be had. You want choices in software? They exist. Go look at OpenOffice. Go look at AbiWord. Go look at Linux, with KDE's office suite. Use WordPerfect. It still exists, and is fine to use. New software comes out every day, and with the release of the .NET Framework, that will only continue to explode. But it goes beyond that! John's stuck in the Ivory Tower of PC Magazine, and doesn't get to see the mass of free software that's downright brilliant, like WinAmp, Thunderbird, Firebird, Eclipse, etc. They don't have large corporations pushing their products through to companies, and rely on word-of-mouth and quality to spread. Linux is getting better all the time (especially Mandrake), and not only is it free, but everything that ships with it is free too! Variety? You want variety John? Go install FreeBSD and trapse through the ports collection, say, to install a text editor. You'll spend hours looking through all the available features to decide.
4. Computer users no longer have influence in the industry
   Rebuttal: Maybe John has a point here, because it seems like more and more the people who use computers are getting the short end of the stick. The DMCA, draconian laws protecting the companies, and not the consumers, but I don't think this is the fault of the hobbyists just going away, but more indicative of a more powerful computer industry that's flexing it's political muscles. This will not last, and frankly I don't think this has as much of an impact as Dvorak states. Hobbyists are not "staying away" because they have less say. They're not hiding because of the laws, though the DMCA might start to have that effect. They hobbyists that Dvorak is looking for went and had kids, found other hobbies, and moved on in life. The hobbyists that exist today have new user groups and advocates, like the Electronic Frontier Forum, or the CDT.
5. There are just no more hobbyists
   Rebuttal: You just haven't spent enough time looking John! How about those people who work on making Linux run on their XBox? Or the guys who have figured out a way to make NetBSD to run on 53 different platforms? That goes beyond hobby to pure love and adoration of computers. The hobbyists have gone in other directions as well. There are people who spend money and time modifying their computer case like it's a hot rod, adding neon lights and fancy effects to the fan and power-supply, and building clear cases so you can see the interior of the machine. What about the bloggers, that have taken diaries into a whole new direction, melding their love of computing with their desire to write? The audiophiles who build screaming custom jukeboxes? The wifi-heads who work on creating wireless networks, and drive around warchalking, finding public access networks? The cypher-punks that study all things crypto-related? More and more you see the hobbyists pick a particular are of computers and focus on that. And that's natural. That's how all things go. They start primitive and it's easy to see the entire picture, but eventually, the subject grows, and it's harder to see the big picture.

I appreciate Dvorak's nostalgia and wistful pining for the old days, but seriously folks, are we supposed to believe that because he's moved on and isn't keeping abreast of what's going on in all corners of the computer world that all hobbyists have fallen off the face of the planet?

It just isn't true, and I'd really like if Dvorak spent more time focusing on his real beef, or finding out more about his subject before he starts pontificating. We've got enough futile kvetching as it is.