By Dennis D. McDonald

Alexandria, Virginia, December 30, 2017: As suggested  in his earlier blog rant It's Not Just the FCC That Threatens Net Neutrality, tech management consultant Dennis McDonald of Alexandria, Virginia has traded the Amazon Fire TV Stick attached to his kitchen TV for one of his spare Roku devices.

"I like to watch old airplane and history videos on YouTube when I'm working in the kitchen," McDonald explained. He continued, "The current disagreement between Google and Amazon over sale of Google devices on Amazon has led to deletion of YouTube from the Fire TV Stick's menu options. This is just another example of what happens when you have too much vertical integration in the content delivery value chain!"

McDonald is a firm believer in cross-platform access and delivery. "I was really happy when the Amazon Prime app showed up on my Apple TV. I no longer have to switch over to that god-awful native app menu on my smart plasma TV. We watched The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in the living room and my wife didn't even notice how easy it was to tune in!"

McDonald, an amateur movie reviewer and media pundit, said he isn't really sorry to see the Amazon Fire TV Stick go. "I've never really liked the user interface. It's always been cumbersome to use, probably because Amazon's real goal with this device is to get you to buy and rent more stuff. Getting to what you really want to watch is sometimes a real hassle, unlike the Apple TV and two Roku devices I own. I think that maybe other people agree since my old blog post from 2014, Using the New Kindle Fire TV Stick: A Mixed Review, still shows up occasionally on my web site's weekly top ten list.

McDonald finally cut the interview short. "The water is boiling for the pasta and I'm watching a really interesting documentary about B-24 bomber construction during World War II. Call me next week and I'll be happy to talk about our adventures with Alexa!" 

Copyright 2017 by Dennis D. McDonald