back to article Reg mobile correspondent Bill Ray hangs up his Vulture hat

It's Friday afternoon and my last day as a reporter for The Register. After well over 4,000 articles, and seven years, I'm hanging up my hack's mac and filing away my Press card. I'm not jumping ship to The Telegraph or taking a seat at the New York Times as some of my colleagues have, partly because they never offered me the …

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  1. James 51

    The title is too long.

    ""Readers will no longer be passive consumers of writing, but active participants able to annotate and add to the content, sharing their thoughts with the world""

    Sounds like you're describing the Sony ereaders. The ability to annotate and make notes is the sole reason I use them.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: The title is too long.

      I think you miss the point - Kindle provides this functionality with its normal slick style, but nobody seems to use it.

      1. James 51

        Re: The title is too long.

        There's free draw capicity on the kindle? I have seen the ability to type notes but not that.

      2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

        Re: The title is too long.

        Kindle provides this functionality with its normal slick style, but nobody seems to use it.

        Some people use it, particularly the highlighting feature - which, true, is pretty much the minimum effort for interaction (it's the Kindle equivalent of a Like button), but it's something. Most of the books I read have the occasional passage annotated with "237 highlights" or similar.

        Public annotations do seem to be quite rare, however. Which is kind of a shame; one of my favorite things about borrowing physical books from research libraries is that they're generally full of marginalia from various readers. I miss that with ebooks. But then making a marginal note is significantly more effort with an ebook reader, even with my physical-keyboard Kindle.

        1. JDX Gold badge

          Re: The title is too long.

          It is a nice idea in theory, I remember reading "A Christmas Carol" and seeing which sections others had highlighted. But I wouldn't normally stop reading to add notes unless I was reading for study rather than pleasure.

  2. Mike Moyle

    Thanks, Bill.

    It's been fun!

  3. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    Best of luck Bill...

    In terms of next steps when considering all of your wrong'uns - I'd suggest you don't give up your day jo.. oh...

    Seriously, all the best in whatever you are doing next.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So long...

    Thanks for all the articles...

    ABB and mobile... hmm.... good luck if you're going to pick up the stuff I did at one of their sites last year... :-)

  5. Aslan

    Thanks for your articles.

  6. jai

    all the best

    Right or wrong, you'll still be missed. Articles have always been interesting and worth reading, even the infamous iPhone one. That O2 moment is an utter classic though! Good show! All the best with your next endeavour!

  7. Anonymous Coward 101

    The iPhone Article

    It was demonstrably wrong, but it got most things correct. Getting operators to subsidise the iPhone was indeed the difficult thing for Apple, not making a slick and nicely designed device. So, while the prediction was wrong, the analysis stands the test of time.

  8. El Presidente

    So long and thanks for all the fish, Bill!

    I'm sure all commentards will join me in wishing you the best of everything and continued success in whatever you're off to do now.

  9. sandman

    So long and have fun!

    I hear there's a vacancy at Delphi for an Oracle ;-)

  10. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

    Where are El Reg going to get a wireless correspondent with a name as good as yours? Seriously "Ray" and "Bill"?

    But I will also miss the articles. As AC 101 says, the analysis always felt solid. And what are we left with? A right bunch of jaspers!

  11. rcorrect
    Pint

    See you at the crossroads!

    1. Will Godfrey Silver badge
      Happy

      Is Crossroads still running? I must get out more.

      Thanks for the fun Bill.

      A. Nerd

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They'll be watching!

    Over 4,000 articles in 7 years? Are you leaving on your own free will, or did Gitmo finally get a ferry service?

    Good Luck In The Free World !!!

  13. Admiral Grace Hopper

    Fare well

    Thank you for all the good work, I enjoyed reading it.

  14. Annihilator
    Happy

    Fair thee well

    I missed the O2 article at the time, brilliant! :-)

    All the best, will hope to see you back if only to carry on the tale of the not-spot.

  15. Anonymous IV

    First our much-loved Fearsome Moderatrix, now Bill Ray...

    Good luck, sir, and thanks for your articulation.

  16. Jamie Jones Silver badge
    Pint

    Thank-you, Bill

    Good luck in the future Bill.

    I've enjoyed your articles a lot - even though I keep reading your name as "Blu Ray" !

    And thanks for the final 'last post' - it was most entertaining - it takes a good and wise man to admit they are human by admitting their mistakes.

    Cheers,

    Jamie

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Farewell Bill...

    ...from an old grey-bearded radio amateur.

    It's been fun, read many of your articles, got better informed through doing so.

    Best of luck with the future!

  18. Snar

    Good luck Bill!

    Really sad to hear you are leaving us, I will miss reading your articles on wireless comms and technology. And thanks most of all for investigating and highlighting PLT and it's impact on spectrum when very few others were bothered enough to even listen.

    Good luck in your future endeavours :)

    73 OM!

  19. MondoMan
    Alert

    Enjoyed your bonus articles especially

    The lawn mower, the canal barge lift, and so forth. Best of luck!

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All the Best Bill! :)

    Thoroughly enjoyed your articles. You shall be missed, thanks for all the giggles, and some great insight (now and again!!!).

    I wish you all the best in your future endeavours,

    Bon

  21. Don Jefe
    Happy

    Wide Open Opportinities!

    Whatever destination you have in mind, don't forget that there's plenty of opportunity for talented writers such as yourself in the tech sector analyst industry. There, nobody will expect you to be right, about anything, and your most enjoyable style will be greatly appreciated by those who have to read industry reports.

    Happy trails!

  22. Sil

    I'll read articles that are sometimes wrong but thought out over cut&paste press releases any day.

    Best wishes for your new endeavors.

  23. Sheep!
    Pint

    Cheers!

    Shame, I enjoyed your articles, especially the one about me :-) Good luck with whatever you move on to :-)

  24. oolor
    Pint

    ABB eh? May the power be with you.

    Best I could do on drunk posting night.

  25. Mikel

    Best wishes

    For a speedy recovery.

  26. cracked
    Boffin

    Bye Bye Billy, Billy Bye Bye

    (I suspected as much from the bray@ hint the other day)

    If every one refused to jot down their thoughts - for fear of ridicule - and just sat pointing and laughing at all those who did ... there would be nothing to point and laugh at.

    I should obviously have direct emailed, just for old time's sake ... but I guess I have to consider myself lucky not to have been forced to use tvvatter ... to say, t'ra.

    Luck in whatever you do, Bill; you've been a good read.

    (point to forum developers ... help me out here ... Am I, "very happy and wish to express my contentment" or am I "very unhappy and wish to express my discontentment", or am I "meh"? In the end, I went with the Blue and White bloke no one ever uses on 'ere ...)

  27. Florida1920
    Joke

    Any truth to the rumors that Bill will be doing PR for O2?

    Cheers, Bill!

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Thanks, Bill — For you:

    "Do you see that barn over there? I built it with my own two hands. Do the call me Pierre the barn builder? No!

    "Do you see that stone wall over there? I built it with my own two hands. Do the call me Pierre the wall builder? No!

    "Do you see that farm over there? I farmed it with my own two hands. Do the call me Pierre the farmer? No!

    "But you screw one sheep..."

  29. Jedit Silver badge
    Trollface

    "Who are they going to go to - 3?"

    And here we are five years later, when I routinely hear of O2 customers abandoning ship to head for the fairer waters (and unlimited mobile data allowances) of 3. I migrated myself earlier this year. Ah, sweet irony.

  30. earl grey
    Pint

    First Ms. Bee

    And then Mr. Bill

    What's the world coming to?

  31. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

    Nicely done

    Leaving with a retrospective of your greatest mistakes - that's fine form there. Made me want to go back through my forum posts and find some of my errors. Perhaps this weekend...

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