Then I saw this week's final column. I am truly saddened. I have no doubt whatever that you will continue to write, and write well, in many major markets. At least, I hope that will happen. You're good, and you are* well-liked.

I guess I can see why an editor might not know what to do with an electronics column which seemed to stray afield into topics like dogs, travel, team building and like non-electronic topics. No matter. I liked it, and I think most of us did, too. Let us know what happens next!

I'm sorry I won't be able to read your Pioneer Press column with my Monday morning coffee. I've enjoyed reading it for the past few years. It's been kind of like sitting on my couch and having a chat with a good friend.

It was additional proof to me -- though none was needed -- that people (and publishers in particular) make poor decisions all the time.

I greatly enjoy your stuff. You are indeed MY favorite tech pundit.

I am sad to read today that this will be your last column in the Pioneer Press. I have enjoyed reading your insights and experiences over the past few years. In fact your column was often the ONLY one I read in the TECH section on many occasions.

What I appreciate about your writing is your essential honesty, curiosity, humility, and wonder. You bring a human touch to a wired world that can quickly lower each of our self esteem, and leave us feeling overwhelmed and inadequate to deal with technology. I guess the idea is that if we have 20 designated "masters" of the wired world, that means technology is still not our master. And that is worth knowing.

Say it isn't so! Your brilliant observations were the very first read in the weekly Tech section for me. A pox on the editors of the Pioneer Press I say.

How will I know it's Monday?

Tuesday I take out the garbage, Friday I wear blue jeans to work, Saturday I try to sleep late (never works though) and Sun is the day without a newspaper.

Wed and Thurs are a bit of a blur.

Monday I always read your column!

I was disappointed to read that today was your last column in the Pioneer Press. Your's is the first thing I read in the Monday Tech section. I always liked your "common man" approach to computer technology. Also, you allowed us a glimpse into the person of Michael Finley. We got to know a little about your family, your other interests, and the space in which you work. Your practical advice, laced with dry humor, was always a joy to read.

I'm going to miss seeing your work in the Saint Paul paper; what were they thinking? In any case, I'm an avid Computer User reader and hope to keep seeing your work around Minneapolis/St. Paul. I know it may sound sappy, but your columns have opened many new doors for me. I use my PCs for recording music digitally, and creative work is often ignored in the computer mags.....

I'll try to keep this short, but I'm not only speaking for myself when I say keep up the excellent work; you've been able to put a human face on computers when nobody else could, or would. Thank you, Michael Finley!

(I hope this is one of many e-mails you receive that begins with) I am deeply disappointed to learn of the SPPP's decision to drop your column. More than anything your column brought humanity to the Tech section. The next logical step would be to drop The 5th Wave cartoon because it doesn't take technology seriously. I looked forward to your column each week, saving it for last so I could walk away from "Tech" feeling like it was okay that I didn't understand 100 percent of the rest of the section.

I guess I'm under the mistaken impression that a newspaper's job is to reach the broadest audience. It would seem that, in a section dedicated to Personal Technology, Business and Computing, the "personal" part would deserve some special emphasis. I thought your column did a great job of capturing one person's relationship with technology--with all the inherent uncertainty and apprehension that we've all felt and continue to feel every time we push the "on" button.

Your writing was not just accessible and humorous, it so perfectly described what I go through at times that I would show it to friends and family, saying, "See, it's not just me. He's an Expert, and he still has these problems." Your take on things was a welcome counterbalance to all the techno-advice columns that nonchalantly offer "10 simple steps" to perform some estoteric task that inevitably involves editing the registry.

I can only speak for myself, but I got more out of your columns on how you dealt with a power outage than all of the features in six months of Tech sections. Because it was a real-life situation that could happen to me, I hung on every word, and it made a lasting impression. There will always be faster processors and fancier 3D cards and bigger hard drives, but the human side of dealing with this technology is something that remains constant and deserves continued examination.

Thank you for your empathy and your humor.

You will be missed. I may not have realized it until now, but, the highlight of my Monday newspaper reading for the past three years (even during football season) has been this newspaper section and specifically your column. It has not only been a source of useful information, but also, an oasis for this "techno-boob." I truly can relate.

John Gravelle:

I can't believe you're letting Finley go! Just last week, answering your survey, I put him at the head of the columnists I look forward to each Monday. Beal & Zapata had better watch out - they were next! The human side, the point of view that computors are a "means" and not an "end", humorously frustrating and sometimes useful, are attractive balances in Tech up to now. As a computor challenged retiree, I enjoy the technical articles and problem solving, too. However, without Finley and with more and more techno-terms popping up, I fear the Tech I like is turning into a geekly weekly. Tell me I'm wrong - and show me.

Michael, so sad to see your column ending in the PP. Yours was always the first column I went to after I'd checked out the front page.

I came to enjoy some of your views from "20,000 ft.", to enjoy your way of conveying technology stuff because I could understand it. Plus it was readable.

by Michael Finley
Copyright © 1998 by Michael Finley

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