Anyway, first of all let me apologize if my essay was a little too strong. It’s sometimes easy to fall into that sort of a style, and it’s easier to criticize than to praise, and I suppose that practice will make better. I do like the stuff you write – otherwise I wouldn’t read it – which is why I was surprised and maybe a little disappointed with the specific pieces I commented on. With that said, I’m going to do my best to respond to your comments and clarify my own position:

I am not expecting you to be a journalist. I think that by now it’s pretty clear that bloggers and journalists do slightly different things and are held to different standards, and I think that that’s a good thing. I also do not object to speculation – in fact, that’s pretty much what I do on my own blog, and I find big questions of tech corporate strategy fascinating (it’s one of the things I’d love to do after I graduate).

I also, for the most part, enjoy your writing and insight e.g. as I recall your thoughts on Google-Apple alliance came a few weeks before the Official Google Mac Blog, and your look at the middle of the Digg user curve is something more people should take note of.

What I do take a bit of an issue with are two things. The first is admittedly minor – I think that there is an attitude difference between saying that a company should do something, and saying that they will do so – even though at the end of the day, if you’re right in either case, the companies involved will do the same thing (i.e. what you predict). To me, it’s the difference between making a prediction of what will happen on the one hand, and instructing someone about what to do on the other. If you’re wearing your blogger / commentator hat, I think that you’re placing yourself in the predictor camp – but I welcome reasoning to the contrary.

The second is less minor – as I said above, I’m not objecting to speculation, but rather I’m trying to call you on speculation that I find insufficiently justified. e.g. if Apple has a good (and successful, unlike Google Videos) online movie distribution system, why should it buy YouTube? How are facebook and SixApart going after the same audience if they differ in significant ways XYZ? What’s the financial / business motivation for Google to buy a studio, and offer non-DRM’d movies for 3 bucks when Apple is making good business selling $10-15 DRM’d movies on a well-established platform?

I’m glad that you took the time to read my post, and I apologize again if it looks like I’m launching an all-out salvo against your body of writing. That was honestly not my intention. I realize that you are very busy, but I’d love to hear what you have to say about some of my more specific points, and to perhaps check back here some more in the future.

Wow, this post certainly got my attention!

Let me explain why I sometimes write speculative pieces:

1) I’m not a journalist… I’m an entrepreneur and dealmaker. So I don’t write news, company/product reviews, etc. Instead, I simply try to share my thoughts and opinions… oftentimes elaborating on scenarios that would interest me if I were running a given company. In fact, most of my speculative pieces originate from actual conversations I’ve had with various interested parties to the subject matter, and what I write represents what I honestly believe would be a viable, if not optimal, course of action.

2) I would guess that 70% of the emails I get from readers (thousands every month) ask me to speculate about such things (probably because I have an “insider” view of an entrepreneur, and not a journalists’ view). In fact, most seem to enjoy my speculations (even for those who disagree) and they seem to welcome the departure from the daily grind of keeping up with an increasing avalanche of news. Not sure if other bloggers experience similiar requests… but clearly for me, that’s what the majority of the folks who read me seem to want. And I’m glad to oblige.

3) I’m sorry you don’t like what I write, and you certainly have the right to your opinion… just as I have the freedom to write what I think. The beauty of freedom and choice is that you don’t have to read me if you don’t like what I have to say. This is the blogosphere after all, and my blogging is my form of self-expression and sharing. Remember, I’m not the “news”… just one person with his opinions, who’s using the invention of the blog precisely as it was meant to be used.

I hope this clarifies some of the reasoning behind my writing.