John's first work in technical commentary was at 32 Bits Online in early 1998. This column was called Utopia Planitia, and there were 13 columns. Later, Utopia Planitia moved to The Mac Opinion.
One of John's early forays into technical commentary was at Mac Times and Mac OS Daily in 1998. This column was called The Event Horizon, and there were 14 columns. Later, six more were published when MacOSDaily was re-launched in 2000.
From 1998 to 2000, John also wrote technical commentary on Apple and the Web at Macopinion.com. There were 95 columns. Each column had a famous quote from the science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein as the theme of the article.
Utopia Planitia at Mac Opinion
In 1999 and 2000, John wrote 76 very well received technical commentaries on the computer industry, much of it focused on Apple, at Applelinks.com.
In late 2002 and early 2003, John wrote several commentaries, technical columns, and reviews for OSXFAQ.com.
In October 1999, John wrote a special assignment for The Mac Observer. The theme was how the Mac Changed The World and making things look easy in technology. Sky diving from orbit was described.
How the Mac Changed the World: Making it Look Easy
While most of the Warp Core articles (see above) were technical commentary, they formed the seeds of John's first efforts at science fiction.
In the spring of 2000, John wrote a special assignment series for Mac OS Daily on the adventures of a visiting alien scientist, NikksuhrueTan, from 51 Pegasi.
The Fountain of Hippocrene: The Adventures of NikksuhrueTan
In August 2000, John went to to work for Apple. Writing about one's employer is bad form, so in October 2000 John launched Quantum Threads, a collection of science fiction stories. One of the reader favorites was the Max Hadron series, a detective who solved astronomy mysteries (with help from his beautiful blonde friend and computer guru, Diane.) Quantum Threads continued into 2003 with 35 installments.