I would much rather live with intelligently targeted, non-offensive, plain text advertising than the insultingly stupid, full color advertising that fills print and broadcast media. I'm right with you in hating advertising in all its forms, but you must give Google credit for dramatically redefining what online advertising meant. Their enormous success is the perfect testament to the power of tasteful advertisement.

frankly, i agree with him. and just in case youre still skeptical: why does adblock exist, if not to bypass the obnoxiousness of the google model?

Ah, but that says nothing about the viability of the model itself. Is advertising online a sustainable business model? Of course it is.

and finally, i hate ads. on tv, in mags/comics, before movies, and anywhere else; but the google model (much like the billboard) has out-shouted any interest i could have possibly had in any product, to the point where i specifically AVOID said products.

If there are enough of you to matter, this sentiment represents exactly the business opportunity that the author implies does not exist.

edit just for fun: my favorite part was "inability to hide derision", followed by the rest of your point. heh.

I was referring to the personal attacks and gross mischaracterizations :

| that I found myself trapped in a corridor at Harper's, surrounded by a small mob of what I can't help but refer to as "young people."|

because the Internet salesmen claimed, in sly mimicry of the indigenous tribesmen,

I've recently come to realize that the Internet huckster/philosophers are first cousins -

| In the long run, I think I'll be vindicated, since clearly the advertising "model" has failed and readers are going to have to pay (in opposition to Google's bias against paid sites) if they want to see anything more complex than a blog, a classified ad or a sex act.|

doesn't make "Zuck" any more attractive

Like I said. He comes across as extremely elitist and upset. I think he would have better served himself by arguing his points for the various business models on the merits.

that being said, i agree with your "go directly to the consumer" point. thats a newish idea that has worked out well on several fronts, but requires a certain amount of several other factors to work successfully... the standard seems to be google ads, and i agree that print ads were much less obnoxious, and therefore much more likely to get done whatever the advertisers had in mind.

THIS is where the change is happening. Here is the tremendous opportunity for content creators, as well as their biggest pitfall if they get it wrong in this changing landscape imho.