As many of you who support PCs are aware, PC Magazine bit the dust earlier this year and is now online-only. Computer Shopper, another one that I enjoyed from time to time, is likewise departed from the physical magazine space. My favorite microcomputer journal ever, Byte, has been off the magazine racks for many years. And while these publications sometimes live on via the Internet, you can’t read Internet articles easily on a train, subway, airplane, or in an airport. You also can’t rip out pages or highlight or dog-ear interesting tidbits.
Now, books are another story. It’s easy to see why the computer bookshelves are down to half the size they were a decade ago: most product-specific books in our industry are out of date when they first hit the shelves, their overall level of accuracy is variable (fact-checking is almost nonexistent), the writing quality is also variable, and the product is inherently non-updatable. (Books that deal with “first principles” and technology basics should continue to have a place.)
But magazines are set up to be more timely; they cost a lot less per copy; they’re much easier to travel with; and they’re more “usable.” So it’s a little mystifying to me how a rag such as PC Magazine decides to go out of print. I confess to mixed emotions about this sort of thing – on the one hand, I’m all for saving the rain forest, but I also like to have something to take with me on those four-hour flights so I can keep up with industry news and learn cool new stuff. And you can’t beat the resolution of the printed page for nice clear graphics and photos.
What do you think? Do you use computer magazines and books? Do you prefer print format, online format, or a combination? Or all we all devolving to slavishly using Google for all of our information needs?
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Glenn Weadock is a longtime instructor for Global Knowledge and teaches Windows 7, Server 2008, and Active Directory. He has recently co-developed with Mark Wilkins two advanced Server 2008 classes in the Microsoft Official Curriculum. Glenn also consults through his Colorado-based company Independent Software, Inc. and is technical director of MarketCoach Investment Education Software LLC.
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Me too
I too am at a loss for the why. The few times I've visited the UK and Italy, it seems that they are able to support a selection of tech magazines. Heck our local Barnes & Noble sells some tech mags from the UK, albeit at $15-$20.
I wonder if only product specific ones, like for Photoshop, will survive. Perhaps PC Magazine was too general; or maybe they need to think regional or as small as by state instead of country wide. I wish I knew the answer.
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