‘Fantasy Puff Piece’ for Microsoft?

After reading Roddy Scheer’s article on “Microsoft’s Rich Media Group” (Spring 2006, page 12), I’m wondering how much MS funds your publication. There’s a lot of “Vista will have” while Vista doesn’t even exist at this time, and maybe not until 2007 or later, if at all. And to state that PCs are cheaper to buy and maintain is a joke. Comparable PCs are more expensive to purchase than Macs, and the cheapo PCs are not adequate for image processing. This whole article smacks of a fantasy puff piece written by someone in Microsoft’s employ. With Bill Gates on the cover, your magazine should be called “Microsoft PhotoMedia for Windows Amateurs.”

Robert Liles
Portland, Ore.

The editor responds:

Thanks for the name-change suggestion, but neither PhotoMedia nor Roddy Scheer received any form of compensation from Microsoft for the article. The article merely set out to cover the features of an upcoming photo editing software product that we feel could have a significant impact on the industry, just as we would cover any other legitimate photo product. In fact, in the same issue, we ran two stories (one by Steve Broback, the other by Richard McEnery) about new digital workflow software that will compete with Microsoft Vista, including Apple’s Aperture, iView’s Media Pro Version 3, Extensis’ Portfolio 8 and Adobe’s Lightbox.

  

New Fan from the Other Coast

While in Santa Fe, N.M., this past week, I managed to pick up a copy of PhotoMedia. What a great publication, and I seriously regret it is not available [for] free on the East Coast. After reading the story written by Ted Fry about Louis Psihoyos (Spring 2006, page 14), it struck me that very few photo periodicals take the time and space to print in-depth, well written material. I especially liked that more than one or two of Louie’s great photos were printed. The article, photos and editing demonstrated a commitment to very classy photographic journalism.

Steve Lingeman
Hartsdale, N.Y.