It's refreshing to see someone who is dedicated, has an opinion and will speak it, even if to offends someone, and this industry would be a hell of a lot less interesting without John Honovich.
At times, though, it seems as if the biggest troll here is John himself. Perhaps because the content that gathers the most interest/debate are stories that are either controversial, political (lately gun control), or that contain some element of mud-slinging, often involving John and some manufacturer or some proxy for one.
Now, bear in mind, this is how I interpret the communication that originates from John, so I don't know if the actual intent was so, but a few days ago, John was seemingly ridiculing Genetec for angling for votes on Twitter. I've also seen John take stabs at Avigilon (JPEG2000 "myth making"), Mobotix (MxPEG), Raytec (spot the mistakes), ADI (funniest defense), Panasonic (losing ground, facerec), Arecont (go on, idiot tech installed system) and I could go on (yeah, we have been in the spotlight too - sometimes fairly, sometimes not).
I can't help getting this nagging feeling that John is really an armchair coach - and instead of yelling at the TV, he's yelling through IPVM. Don't get me wrong, I think there is definitely a need for an independent source of information (NPR?) - one that doesn't have some agenda or is simply printing slightly edited stories written by manufacturers that run ads in their magazine. But on the other hand, the many incidents where the copy becomes a little too... hmm.. "aggressive", makes it seems as if theres something else going on.
I think John is a Diva. Yes. There... I said it. It had to be done.
Don't feel bad though, Carl is a diva too (and quite a few others in this forum as far as I can tell). What it means is that we spend way, way too much time on this crap when we should be clocking in at 9 am and out at 5 pm. Instead we should be preoccupied with improving our golfing handicap, tonights ballgame, the latest developments in the Kardashian family, or whether the right people got voted off American Idol/Dancing with the Stars. But we don't. I think the term here is "committed". If we were farming cucumbers, we'd be committed to that too.
I find it weird when people have little/no interest in the product they are selling. I once met a marketing person (not a very good one), who told me that she didn't want to use the application we were selling. That there was no need for her to understand the pain points, the technology or any of that. If fact, she felt it might impede her ability to write good copy. I was young then, and it blew my mind that anyone would say something like that. And once in a while, people with no understanding of the fundamentals (because they are too stupid, or simply don't put in the hours), will try to "teach you", which usually causes me to blow a fuse. When I walk around at tradeshows a lot of salespeople think I am some dummy (maybe I am), and the amount of shit questionable information I hear is unbelievable.
IPVM has offered some real gems over the years, and I hope you will continue to do so. On the other hand, the personal style, the very overt attacks on companies and people, while entertaining, it also seems somewhat unprofessional, and while it works now, it remains to be seen if it is something that will work in the long run.
Now, I need to get back to writing world leading, cutting edge, revolutionary, code that will unleash the power of IP video, and enable you to have a constant, uninterruped tactical overview of your premises.