Today marks an important day (for me, anyway) at the Gripe Line: This is my last post.
It's been three years since I took over the reins of InfoWorld's consumer advocate form the late, legendary Ed Foster. Those years have seen a lot of change in the world of technology. We watched the once-great Gateway transform from a custom-built, mail-order giant to a company split in two by economic decline. Consumer products became part of Acer, the business products were swallowed by MPC, and MPC flamed out and disappeared, stranding its customers. That certainly wasn't the only high-profile flameout in these years marked by economic turbulence.
[ Also on InfoWorld.com: Bob Lewis offers his guidance and expertise on high-tech careers in the Advice Line blog and the Advice Line newsletter. ]
The economy has touched high-tech in other ways as well. Outsourcing changed the IT industry -- and proved detrimental for technical support. Social media has transformed the way people communicate and the way companies provide service, while adding a new outlet for scam artists and hackers to exploit.
In short, it's been a wild three years, but it's now the start of a new year. I took a hard look at my to-do list and goals and realized that something had to change. Thus, I've decided to focus my energies on my consumer coverage in magazines such Family Circle and bid adieu to the rarefied world of IT consumer advocacy. I will miss stepping in to save frustrated consumers and turning their seemingly unsolvable problems into happy memories. The people at InfoWorld have also been a blast to work with, but all good things must come to an end.
In the comments section of my recent post "Turning to Twitter for world news," bdornbush asked whom to follow to transform his personal Twitter feed from a stream of pointless comments on the weather to a useful source of news. Twitter will get you started on that, but his question also prompted me to provide a list of Twitter handles to follow for product updates and news about your gear. You can always send these people a direct message if you run into trouble.
- @ATT
- @Dellcares
- @HPsupport
- @Lenovo
- @Microsofthelps
- @TeamTurboTax
- @Rackspace
- @Samsung
- @Sonylistens
- @TMobile
- @Verizon
Did I miss any? Leave them in the comments for the Gripe Line community -- an invaluable resource for us all.
Thanks for reading and have a great year, Gripe Line readers! And stay in touch. You can always find me on Twitter.
This story, "Gripe Line bids farewell to the faithful," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of Christina Tynan-Wood's Gripe Line blog at InfoWorld.com. For the latest in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.