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After 47 Years, Computerworld Ceases Print Publication

Posted by timothy on from the old-computer-magazines-never-die dept.

harrymcc (1641347) writes "In June 1967, a weekly newspaper called Computerworld launched. Almost exactly 47 years later, it's calling it quits in print form to focus on its website and other digital editions. The move isn't the least bit surprising, but it's also the end of an era--and I can' t think of any computing publication which had a longer run. Over at Technologizer, I shared some thoughts on what Computerworld meant to the world, to its publisher, IDG, and to me."

105 comments

  1. CACM is older by Animats · · Score: 3, Informative

    Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery was first published in 1957.

    1. Re:CACM is older by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1
      Thoughts Baby Boomers (and older) never, ever, EVER have:
      • "Maybe terms like "PASSING LANE" and "ACCELERATION LANE" aren't really so confusing after all..."
      • "Maybe I can handle the already low speed limit or at the VERY LEAST stay out of the passing lane..."
      • "Just about every question I ever bug a clerk about is answered not by memorized expertise but by the clerks's Amazing Powers Of --- LITERACY! Maybe, just maybe, if I try reading what's right in front of me I won't have so many basic questions..."
      • "If I figure out what I want before I go to a place then I won't need to hold up everyone else in line while I take a minor eternity to decide what to order..."
      • "Maybe if I again use my amazing powers of LITERACY and at least put a token effort into some RTFM action, I won't make acquaintences dearly regret telling me they are good at computers..."
      • "While I'm at it maybe I could learn new things instead of trying to treat a sophisticated general purpose machine as if it were another appliance"
      • "The waitstaff don't really want to be my friend. Maybe just maybe that's why every pointless longwinded story I tell them about my grandkids or the good old days was completely and totally unsolicited"
      • "Business owners and their staff are already aware that things used to cost less and I don't have to keep bitching and moaning about it"
      • "I sure am glad my grandparents made sacrifices and worked hard to make their best effort at letting me enjoy a standard of living better than what they had. Maybe just maybe I could do the same for the younger generations of today instead of being completely selfcentered!"
      • "Wow I'm being a rude asshole every time I gather in groups with other old people and chat together in the middle of a doorway or narrow hallway, blocking everyone else trying to enter and exit the building. If I quit doing shit like this maybe I could stop wondering why the younger adults don't respect me."
      • "Maybe if I got a life, some friends, a hobby, or something, I would stop being so needy and burdensome toward everyone with a service job because I wouldn't be so desperate for attention anymore."
      • "Maybe if I really was so important I wouldn't need to exploit subordinates just to feel that way."
      • "Maybe real respect comes from people who have a choice in the matter, not lowly waitstaff and service personnel."
      • "Maybe if I stopped complaining so damned much I could find positive things to enjoy about my life."
      • "In fact I have it pretty fucking good compared to what the younger adults will have to deal with when they get to be my age."
      • "By collectively bankrupting this nation my generation has done more to destroy this nation than the Nazis, Commies, and terrorists combined. I should really be ashamed of this and stop acting so proud and selfimportant all the time."
      • "I notice in cultures like Japan the elderly are deeply respected and revered. It can't be a coincidence that their elders try to be wise and respectable and definitely aren't acting like parasites destroying the future of the younger generations."
      • "If I go 25mph under the speed limit while nobody else does maybe this is a sign that I am no longer physically capable of meeting the demands of driving a car."
      • "Maybe other people exist and are affected by my actions."
      • "Maybe there are things more important than running a homeowner's association and taking neighbors to court over trivial matters. Why I could even try being neighborly instead!"
      • "Maybe respect is a two-way street. Maybe I'm not automatically entitled to everything I want."
      • "Maybe I need the younger generations and they don't need me so perhaps I should stop interfering with their lives."
      • "Maybe my love of gossiping about my family and neighbors is a sign that I have no life."
      • "Maybe as long as I have two good hands I could do things for myself instead of burdening others unnecessarily just so I can feel i
    2. Re:CACM is older by iggymanz · · Score: 4, Informative

      yes, that the magazine (still around) that published the famous (or infamous) letter by Edsger Dijkstra "Go to Statement Considered Harmful", which I'll bet half of slashdotters have heard referenced

    3. Re:CACM is older by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bitter, much?

    4. Re:CACM is older by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      another young loser blaming older generation for his personal failures, sitting on his ass in front of computer that could be making him wealth; but he only uses it as entertainment device and outlet for whining.

    5. Re:CACM is older by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Daddy kick you out of the basement ?

    6. Re:CACM is older by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forgot:
      "Gee I wish I had used a rubber and not spawned a useless troll."

    7. Re:CACM is older by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks for sharing. Now get my latte.

    8. Re:CACM is older by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And is still a moronic quote retold again and again by people that have no clue about programming efficiently.

      Enterprise quality coding is the worst thing to happen to software development. Literally the worst.
      Even this stupid ignorant (not)-feminism thing happening now isn't as bad, all those retarded social justice warriors that just hate men because men are obviously evil and everything wrong with the world and decided to just steal a term and bastardize it beyond belief.

      Jumping around your code isn't a bad thing, especially if it is interrupt heavy. (aka, all the code that matters at the lowest levels)
      A bad practice with this is jumping backwards in code. (outside of a loop that is, that is really the only acceptable form)
      But a very common and very simple approach to escaping large chains of loops is just have a way of exiting the entire chain of loops at once.
      Sure, you could wrap the entire loop in a function and just exit the function, but some view that as abusive as well.

      It is one of those things that nobody will seem to agree on.
      I think we can all agree that PHP needs to die though. That isn't even a dead horse now. It is mush.

    9. Re:CACM is older by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And is still a moronic quote retold again and again by people that have no clue about programming efficiently.

      Enterprise quality coding is the worst thing to happen to software development. Literally the worst....

      But a very common and very simple approach to escaping large chains of loops is just have a way of exiting the entire chain of loops at once.
      Sure, you could wrap the entire loop in a function and just exit the function, but some view that as abusive as well.

      .... or you could use a break statement .... something tells me you are bitter because you aren't bright enough to make it in "enterprise coding" whatever the fuck that is. Something tells me you aren't bright enough to make it in any field where best practices evolve more frequently than once a decade.

    10. Re:CACM is older by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      computer that could be making him wealth

      Bitcoin is not wealth, you hipster fag.

    11. Re:CACM is older by hey! · · Score: 1

      Well, I'll have a pint, thank you!

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    12. Re:CACM is older by hey! · · Score: 2

      Thoughts Baby Boomers (and older) never, ever, EVER have:

      Oh, old Gramps here can trump your whole list:

      Thoughts millenials (and younger) never, ever, EVER have:

      • "Maybe I shouldn't be texting right now..."
      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    13. Re:CACM is older by thunderclap · · Score: 1

      I would so mod you up because everything you type is true. this one is the most true and applies to everyone. ""Maybe respect is a two-way street. Maybe I'm not automatically entitled to everything I want."
      Let's add to this: "You are not entitled to change a name, remove an item or alter a place because it offends you, no matter your age." This is an abuse of the freedom that those dudes who you see in the picture wearing those crazy white wigs fought for, gave up their money for and yes even died for. A critical mass of us has to offended before its offensive. It has to devalue your life even when you are out of its presence.
      Example of things that were and will always remain offensive:
      Riding in the back of the bus because of your skin pigment.
      Making you sleep in vastly inferior location because of your skin pigment
      Forcing your labor without pay
      Denying you medical care
      Assuming that because you are without resources and eat dirt in a location considered to be another country that you have a right to move to a country that is richer so you can make our poor go without. (Just because you were born and are smart enough to escape doesn't get you anything. IN centuries past, this was a way to get you killed. Smart people fix their surroundings.)
      Assuming that those with wealth, means or intelligence are your servants because life gave to a worthless poker hand.
      Expecting a handout because you were living off someone who died, left or is incapable of providing for you now.
      Preventing you from performing bodily functions if you are outside.
      (this includes sleeping) Preventing you from accessing water if you are coming in from outside.
      Walking around an event with signs that suggest a deity hates something because you believe that a deity hates something. All Deities hate things however, most hate people who walking around an event with signs that suggest a deity not them hates. Why? because all deities are jealous of other deities. Don't believe in deities? Then you understand the pointlessness of walking around an event like that.
      Making a movie glorifying a past that was hard, dark and brutal just because you are pissed no one is respecting your struggle with your pigment or orientation issues. While pigment is a issue we all have to deal with because we all can see it, orientation is a silent issue unless its pda. You deserve respect, yes. However, if your pda bothers others, its not the time to make a movie about its history its time to privately educate them.
      Acting as if pigment is as important an issue as orientation. Yes both can cause discrimination. This discrimination is deeply offensive and wrong. Yet if you are a majority (the opposite of a minority) your pigment doesn't qualify you to say my orientation is above yours. Your orientation is your business alone unless you are in porn, then its ours but thats whole other issue. Pda is needs to be left to private areas. No one wants to explain to a 3yr why you are doing what you are doing. If you want to do porn, a restaurant isn't the place to do it (unless you own it and your patrons have paid to watch)
      Assuming that a person whose job is acting as entertainment has suddenly become the character they play or has become a deity to worship, adore, teach your children or become less than human.
      Assuming that a person who job is acting, making music, walking across a theater stage in costume or doing something that is for public consumption is any less that you or whose behavior is more subject that yours. This is a job. Nothing more.
      Assuming that a person who job is acting, making music, walking across a theater stage in costume or doing something that is for public consumption suddenly obligates them you reveal their entire personal life, make available private things like orientation, be subjected to lack of access because people decide they need articles of your clothes or body. You don't throng your postman or your coworkers? So why would you throng a person you don't know because you se

    14. Re:CACM is older by thunderclap · · Score: 1

      an anonymous coward whining about another young loser blaming older generation for his personal failures, sitting on his ass in front of computer that could be making him wealth; but he only uses it as entertainment device and outlet for whining. at least when I want to make a screed, I tag my name to it. what you got no scrot? (or afraid of losing karma if female?")

    15. Re:CACM is older by ButchDeLoria · · Score: 1

      Why should I pay for an SMS/MMS plan on a phone when I can just abuse my unlimited data and VoIP call?

    16. Re:CACM is older by jimmydevice · · Score: 1

      Wow, Forget your meds?

    17. Re:CACM is older by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unfortunately, C's break is broken. It can only break from one loop, there's no such thing as break(2). If you want to break from more than one level you can put a dozen ifs or use a goto. Between the two, I prefer the goto although I can't remember the last time I had to use it. Creating a function, as AC above says, can be even uglier depending on what the loops are doing, although it can work in some cases.
      It mostly only makes sense to use goto in low-level code.

    18. Re:CACM is older by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bought most of mine "around 2500" for under five dollars and sold them for $900-1000 each. If that's not wealth I don't know what is.

    19. Re:CACM is older by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 1

      It's luck until you can repeat it.

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
    20. Re:CACM is older by Gibgezr · · Score: 1

      A break only terminates the innermost loop. Gotos are a perfectly fine way to exit a deeply nested set of loops, or jump to error-handling code. The test for using a goto mostly boils down to this: did it make the code clearer and more readable by using a goto? If not, don't use one.

      A goto is just a jmp. There is no reason to be scared of it, just treat it with the proper respect and don't over-use it. Same can be said of inheritance, after all.

    21. Re:CACM is older by thunderclap · · Score: 1

      Just being honest. What, you disagree?

  2. Did anyone care anymore? by HBI · · Score: 5, Informative

    I believe my first computer "magazine" was a photocopied zine for Apple computers from back in the 70s. I think I bought my last computer magazine in about 2000. The web killed the market for such things long ago.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    1. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Same here for "first" but I bought my last in like 1989. In fact I have it right here, December, 1990 INFO (an Amiga rag at the time).

      Who the hell kept buying magazines past the 80's. You really didn't see the web/BBS's etc coming before that? lol. I bet you kept hanging out in arcades too.

    2. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by IntrepidDreams · · Score: 3, Interesting

      How about the 86% of adults in the United States that didn't use the internet by 1995? Or the 64% that still hadn't in 2000.Source And that's for the US alone. Worldwide, even worse.

      And yes, I realize this is a computer magazine, and probably had higher internet adoption, but other magazines get printed as well. Some of which aren't geared towards techies that used the internet in 1990.

      And on a personal note, early 90s childhood me would like that thank gaming magazines. Mostly for cheat codes.

    3. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by mythosaz · · Score: 1

      Even though it was the quintessential collection of text files, something about having a physical copy kept me buying the occasional 2600 magazine until the early 2000's.

    4. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by OrangeTide · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yup we didn't need print magazines in the 80's. Because downloading images at 2400 baud and displaying them on your 8 color computer was vastly superior to full color printing and inexpensive monthly delivery.

      I used to print out source to do code reviews, because I was too impatient to wait for VGA projectors to be invented.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    5. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by PRMan · · Score: 1

      The web only started in 1994, so it's not that surprising that people didn't use it before that.

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
    6. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by rudy_wayne · · Score: 1

      I think I bought my last computer magazine in about 2000. The web killed the market for such things long ago.

      Although the Internet has certainly put a big dent in all magazine sales, I've been noticing that most magazine publishers are their own worst enemy -- less content, lower quality content, more ads and higher prices.

    7. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One thing I am sad about is no really good replications of magazines, but even better due to the interactive content.

      There was one company I remember that had a neat mag-like website with a bunch of random topics, I just cannot remember the name for the life of me.

      Hmm, I just had a neat idea myself. See you in 3 years!

    8. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He said internet, not Web. Guess what? They're not the same.

    9. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by Donkey_Hotey · · Score: 1

      The Internet started long before the web. But you already knew that, right?

      --
      (There is supposed to be a Sarcmark® here, but my $1.99 check hasn't cleared, yet...)
    10. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The web only started in 1994, so it's not that surprising that people didn't use it before that.

      The Internet is not just the web, you spoon!

    11. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actual mid 90's quote from me..."This web stuff is cool, but what do you need it for? Everything is on gopher."

    12. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Amigaworld stopped publishing years ago. Likewise Byte, and Computer Shopper. They were great and necessary for the time, but as others have pointed out: the web is the best publishing system around. It cost me $0 to ship worldwide, costs at most a few dollars worth of electricity to have over 100 million eyeballs, and I can update whenever I like. Its like this: Caterpillar Tractor is a pretty conservative company. Their manuals break down for owners exactly how much fuel their machines use, and provide tables for expected returns (income generation) and there are tables and graphs which makes it easy based on machines running 24/7 (multiple operators/crews). They stopped paper manuals for these machines years ago. Now you get a CD, and software updates are part of maintenance (dozers, trackhoes, buggies (wheel tractor-scraper), etc.) Electronic manuals and online publications are so much easier and faster. You can have 100 manuals in a space that used to occupy just 1.

    13. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by ruir · · Score: 1

      The web? You surely jest. I used to buy 3 or 4 magazines per month back in the late 80s, until around 1993-1995 the quality and novelty had a substancial drop in quality and a quite substancial price increase. Forward more two or three years, and most of the lower tier magazines where recycled Internet news with more than a couple of months. If you want to sell something, you have to provide actual content and pay well to have bright people.

    14. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This one you can partly blame on Al Gore and his I took the initiative in blah blah blah Internet which transformered autobot style by Michael Bay starring Shia La Boeuf into I created the Internet (in the early nineties.),

    15. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, I remember very well buying lots of specialized magazines back in the 80s...

    16. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For our newest generation of computer users the advent of social media has both increased the number of people in the world with computing devices and poisoned the pool. Don't blame the internet. Also the internet was around long before 1994. The internet was first thought up in 1944 as a means of inter military communication. It wasn't implemented until 1946 after WWII ended. It was used by the Army from 1946 - 1963 until it was taken over by the newly formed NASA. In the 1970's it was adopted by die hard computer nerds and began to grow in popularity. NASA relinquished control of the internet to the public in 1994. I had internet in 1987, admittedly their were only a hand full of computers I could communicate with at that time, and you had to dial them directly, but it was there. Ever watched War Games? That movie was made in 1984.. FYI that was the internet in it's pubescent form.

    17. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      You know, that's pretty much what I thought at the time. Despite my prediction, it caught on.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    18. Re:Did anyone care anymore? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      That has much to do with lowered demand. Content (particularly quality content) is a fixed cost for any particular issue, so if the circulation goes way down it's going to be under serious cost pressure. Ads and price increases increase revenue, and offset loss of revenue from lowered demand. After a while, of course, this can get into a death spiral.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  3. good riddance to printed rubbish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They've had magazines published on computer disks since the 1980s.

  4. Today I Learned... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Computerworld was still in print.

  5. Been an advert fest for as long as I remember by rsborg · · Score: 1

    Of course, so was MacWorld and the like. Anyone remember what a big deal HotWired was back in the mid nineties?
    Gladly, we can kill online ads through ad blockers so the revenue stream for such a magazine doesn't support it as a sustainable "business".

    Any meaningful insight comes straight from important folks' blogs, tweets and mouths at conferences. Discussion or editorials are done at places like /. , Reddit or HN. Internet successfully disintermediates yet another "market" and everyone benefits.

    --
    Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
    1. Re:Been an advert fest for as long as I remember by mythosaz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sometimes it was the advertising that we craved.

      Computer Shopper was something we used to eagerly await the arrival of.

    2. Re:Been an advert fest for as long as I remember by jbolden · · Score: 1

      Gladly, we can kill online ads through ad blockers so the revenue stream for such a magazine doesn't support it as a sustainable "business".

      There is far more content today, more diverse and more knowledgeable than there was then. It is very much like the switch from Britannica to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is 100x larger and with web links allows people to more successfully research far more topics than Britannica ever could. Those magazines were geared towards selling readers to advertisers just as much as conferences today exist to sell attendees to sponsors.

    3. Re:Been an advert fest for as long as I remember by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've been researching old tidbits of computer history on Google Books, and the ads in Computer World and PCWeek are often the most interesting part!

    4. Re:Been an advert fest for as long as I remember by Khyber · · Score: 1

      DirtCheapDrives.com baby. Fuck yea CS was one thing I looked forward to 18 years ago.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    5. Re:Been an advert fest for as long as I remember by Khyber · · Score: 1

      " Wikipedia is 100x larger and with web links allows people to more successfully research far more topics than Britannica ever could."

      All paid off, most likely, with maybe 2% of paid contributors actually disclosing their affiliation.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    6. Re:Been an advert fest for as long as I remember by turp182 · · Score: 1

      I loved those bible sized tomes, reading about all of the computers I couldn't afford because I was a poor college student. It was all about the advertising, and it was fantastic.

      --
      BlameBillCosby.com
  6. The news comes three months after the passing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... The news comes three months after the passing of Pat McGovern, who started IDG in 1964

    so, they were just waiting for the boss to kick the bucket. nice.

  7. A more contemporary example by wjcofkc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I remember watching cnet on television back in the mid 1990's. When it went off the air in in favor of an all web media outlet, I thought it was the end and was actually kind of depressed. It turned out television was limiting and now cnet probably makes more money from me browsing their site then they ever did with television advertising. Likewise, I used to spend a lot of time browsing computer related magazines. I haven't so much as visited a dedicated magazine isle in maybe 15 years. Print is dying with a whimper and no one cares. Nothing to see here, not really.

    --
    Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
    1. Re:A more contemporary example by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I used to watch those shows in the 90s as well. Now I'm watching Twit.tv via web site, Roku app or Apple TV.

    2. Re:A more contemporary example by rsmith-mac · · Score: 1

      I remember watching cnet on television back in the mid 1990's. When it went off the air in in favor of an all web media outlet, I thought it was the end and was actually kind of depressed. It turned out television was limiting and now cnet probably makes more money from me browsing their site then they ever did with television advertising.

      Yes. But technology has never been the same without Desmond Crisis, Richard Hart, Sofie Formica, and especially John C. Dvorak's silly little "Try It, Buy It, Skip It" reviews.

      Though we could have done with less Ryan Seacrest. He was annoying, even in the 90s...

  8. It will be missed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How permanent will our digital editions be when it comes to archiving them?

    1. Re:It will be missed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How permanent will our digital editions be when it comes to archiving them?

      If you can view it you can easily save your own copy of it. So if you care, you will trivially solve this problem yourself. If you don't, you won't. The only loser is the person who says they care but can't bother to save a copy themselves.

    2. Re:It will be missed by thunderclap · · Score: 1

      There is nothing permanent about digital. In 50 yrs we will have the same issues we are having now with movies from the early 20th century. Only there will be no physical copies to speak of.

  9. Magazines still exist? by nurb432 · · Score: -1

    Really.. why? Other than to line my bird cage that is. All the information i want is 'out there' and i dont have to futz with a bunch of different publications and all their fluff and ads. Its not even about free, its about wading thru 90% garbage for that one tiny article on page 90... And having to pay for the rest too.

    Unless its a over sized glossy 'art' magazine, and even that is debateable at this point.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    1. Re:Magazines still exist? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really? What is this magical medium that replaces the need for magazines?

    2. Re:Magazines still exist? by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      One little thing I love e-zines for is putting an end to that annoying and worthless "Continued on page 357" convention that print magazines all have. The extra leafing time it took to read one article may have been trivial, but add it up over three-fourths of a reading lifetime and it turns into a major "Why didn't they think of that years ago!"

    3. Re:Magazines still exist? by relyimah · · Score: 1

      While it may not apply to everyone, I go away camping quite a bit where there is no mobile reception, and I quite enjoy that fact. It's great to get away from a screen sometimes.

      Nothing better than sitting round a fire reading up on your interests...

      Sure you can say "bring your tablet with the magazines loaded", but that doesn't really get you away from a screen now does it?

      Just my 2c

    4. Re:Magazines still exist? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      What, are you dense? Are you retarded or something? What the hell do you think it is? It's the goddamn Internet.

    5. Re:Magazines still exist? by nurb432 · · Score: 1

      Its no different bringing a tablet or eink reader to camp than a stack of books. You are still distracting yourself.

      --
      ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    6. Re:Magazines still exist? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Excepting that time away from screens is what I'm looking for when away.

      Tablet et. al. does not provide this :)

      Must say that even though I work in IT I don't like the major reliance on screens for everything these days...

      I'm sure the next generation won't care (so get off my lawn I guess)

    7. Re:Magazines still exist? by praxis · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Magazines do still exist. They fill a niche for those that want to read a long-form ad-free article. Not every article in our life needs to be a sound-bite or mutli-page hit-trap or digital-tracking-adware or regurgitated listicle or blog of J. Q. Random or have audio and video ads in the gutter. For the moment, the reading public does not seem to be willing to pay a subscription fee for a website so for the moment good journalism and literature magazines still sell subscriptions that include digital and print publications. Sometime soon in the future the model will change but good journalism and literature is not free nor have ads been sufficient to support them. Until we find a business model that works, we will make due with a hybrid system.

    8. Re:Magazines still exist? by nurb432 · · Score: 1

      Magazines do still exist. They fill a niche for those that want to read a long-form ad-free article.

      Umm i have not seen a magazine that didn't insert ads in their content on the pages for decades. Sure they dont popup in your face, or play a movie, but they are still there.

      --
      ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    9. Re:Magazines still exist? by Will.Woodhull · · Score: 1

      Well, to each their own.

      I've never enjoyed trying to read by firelight when camping. Using lanterns is even worse; they attract the bugs. I won't read during the daylight hours; those are for hiking and photos and such.

      --
      Will
    10. Re:Magazines still exist? by TheGavster · · Score: 1

      This. Particularly since many print magazines don't print the numbers on a surprising number of pages (ads, the first page or spread of an article, on infographics ...) so there isn't even an easy way to seek to the continuation.

      The web has invented its version as well, though, with what would be a six-inch newspaper article spread across 3 pages. "one page view" is now a subscriber-only feature :/

      --
      "Because Science" is one step from "Because old book". Try "Because of my experiment testing my falsifiable assertion".
    11. Re:Magazines still exist? by Khyber · · Score: 1

      "so there isn't even an easy way to seek to the continuation."

      So you're incapable of counting the sides of pages, is that what you're saying?

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    12. Re:Magazines still exist? by Khyber · · Score: 1

      "Must say that even though I work in IT I don't like the major reliance on screens for everything"

      As opposed to what, beaming it directly to your brain?

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    13. Re:Magazines still exist? by Khyber · · Score: 1

      "They fill a niche for those that want to read a long-form ad-free article"

      Uh, have you seen magazines these days? You've got half a column of story/review, and the rest of the two pages ends up being advertisements.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    14. Re:Magazines still exist? by praxis · · Score: 1

      "They fill a niche for those that want to read a long-form ad-free article"

      Uh, have you seen magazines these days? You've got half a column of story/review, and the rest of the two pages ends up being advertisements.

      I have. They're not all like that.

    15. Re:Magazines still exist? by praxis · · Score: 1

      Magazines do still exist. They fill a niche for those that want to read a long-form ad-free article.

      Umm i have not seen a magazine that didn't insert ads in their content on the pages for decades. Sure they dont popup in your face, or play a movie, but they are still there.

      You need to look at more magazines.

    16. Re:Magazines still exist? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Consumer Reports has no ads.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  10. You mean it was still available on paper? by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

    I'm a dead tree fan for most technical pubs, but I swear it's been 10 years since I've seen a paper copy of COMPUTERWORLD. I've seen the mainframe articles dwindle, the PC section vanish into mainstream articles, and a lot more, but when my paper subscription expired and they invited me to read it online, I never went back.

    My postman used to hate those things. They had to be crammed into mailboxes. It was tabloid-sized and often fairly thick to boot. I think I've got the 1000th issue in a closet.

  11. I think I miss computer shopper more by damn_registrars · · Score: 2

    That was one that people literally bought for the advertisements. Of course, we don't need those advertisements any more, either.

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re:I think I miss computer shopper more by chipschap · · Score: 1

      I do nearly all my magazine-type reading on the Internet now, too, but I did enjoy the print magazines in their day, great old stuff like "Radio Electronics." Not that I wish to return to those days, which weren't really the good old days if you think objectively about it.

      I still like a print newspaper but if I were to be fully honest I'd have to say it's hardly a necessity any more, and it mostly contains wire service articles I read online two days earlier.

    2. Re:I think I miss computer shopper more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're still fun to read. Sadly, I threw all of my old Computer Shoppers away years ago. Out of nostalgia, I bought a mid-90s one on eBay awhile back. Shipping was not fun. However, it will have a place of honor on my bookshelf. And if anyone ever breaks into my house, I'll go grab it, and beat them senseless.

  12. Dr Dobbs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I always like Dr. Dobb's when it was just a newsletter.

    Dr. Dobb's journal of Calisthenics and Orthodontia

    Running light without overbyte

  13. Interesting... by DerekLyons · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What's interesting are the contents of the front page as it appears in TFA....

    • A set of benchmarks comparing one language to several others. (Said lanquage is now a footnote, the one's it's being compared to live on.)
    • A patent fight between two big technology companies of the day. (Both of which are essentially gone though one lives on as a brand name.)
    • A business withdrawing it's employees and dependents from a war torn Middle East.
    • A brief article on the demand for IT personnel.
    • An article on tax deductions and job training.

    All and all, not so different from what one might find on a recent average day on Slashdot.
     
    plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose    .

  14. Nuts & Volts by bobthesungeek76036 · · Score: 2

    I was more of a "Nuts and Volts" kind of guy. Never got into ComputerWorld but there were a ton of my classmates that was always carrying a copy back in the '80s.

    --
    Karma: Bad
    1. Re:Nuts & Volts by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      Nuts & Volts is still around, too.

  15. I still have an issue by Michael+O-P · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not that anyone cares, but this marks 20 years since I wrote an op-ed piece for Computerworld, titled "Ban Business Use of the Internet." It was on the eve of commercial interests being allowed onto the internet, and just after Canter & Siegel inundated Usenet with their Green Card Spam (look it up, kids). While I don't agree with every word I wrote, I think there were certain points I made which have come true. I wrote about corporate interests sponsoring university net feeds, and the speech restrictions that would come with it. Parallel that with the witchhunt of Aaron Swartz and his subsequent suicide.

    I was going to scan in the entire text, since it's not available on the web anywhere (that I can find), just to see what others thought about how I was right and how I was wrong about the corporate "invasion" to academia.

    --
    I'm Peggy.
    1. Re:I still have an issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The commercialization of academia predates the internet, of course. The old fashioned way was that the university library would pay thousands of dollars a year to subscribe to academic journals which would be delivered in large bundles and archived away on some shelf (after all, the library paid good money to get those journals).

      Now at least the digital format has made it easier to create free open-access journals and repositories like arxiv and put pressure on traditional sources to stop charging so much.

    2. Re:I still have an issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      this marks 20 years since I wrote an op-ed piece for Computerworld, titled "Ban Business Use of the Internet."

      Looks like you convinced 'em.

    3. Re:I still have an issue by jbolden · · Score: 1

      That would be good to read. I was on the internet starting about 1988 and heavily by 1992. Once the AOLers came on the internet in swarms I never had much problem with the business. What changed the structure of the internet was the move away from academia to the general public IMHO not so much business.

  16. content changed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've seen computing magazines change from source code to PC software/hardware to PC/TV/phone hardware to a specific OS. Now it's all available online.

  17. News? by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

    As essentially a paid review publication, "ComputerWorld" ceased being worth paying money for long ago.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:News? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did anyone actually pay for it? I thought they spammed anyone who filled out their reply card and claimed to be a "purchasing manager".

      It was somewhat useful to see all the manufacturer press releases in one place. What little I know of mainframe/minis came from reading ComputerWorld on the company toilet.

  18. Millions of Bird Owners by Virtucon · · Score: 1

    Bird owners are now looking for alternative cage lining materials. Rumor has it copies of "O" magazine may be the best alternative to Computerworld because it's super-absorbent and has those scratch and sniff pages all the birds will like.

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
  19. Memories: Vintage Computerworld Ads by theodp · · Score: 1

    Before the Internet, Computerworld was the only browsing distracton at work: '80 Mbytes of storage for under $12k!' and other ad favorites through the years

  20. no regrets by bitt3n · · Score: 2

    It was good while it lasted, but I think we can all agree that the modern electronic computer has had its day, and it's time to go back to the classic mechanical contrivances of earlier times.

    --
    how many pairs of boxer shorts should you own?
  21. Great news! by iamacat · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is a magazine about computers right? If I was the founder, I would be overjoyed that people are reading on star trek-style tablets and saving trees in process. I am sure there are publications that should not go digital only. Amish Times comes to mind. But online is a great medium for this particular one.

    1. Re:Great news! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But online is a great medium for this particular one.

      The Internet is a great source for information on what to do when your computer is not working./p

  22. I cared. by Khyber · · Score: 1

    Good unchangeable hard-copy print publications with typically far more reliable information. Pretty damned good vs the internet for a leisurely search if you keep shit organized.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  23. How little things have changed by Alioth · · Score: 1

    How little stuff has actually changed.

    The image of the very first Computerworld, the first page has a story about a patent lawsuit.

    --
    Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
  24. Sad that print is dying but... by Torp · · Score: 1

    ... that "digital magazine" mention is the really scary part. That's wasted effort with a 98% chance they'll get it wrong.
    Obligatory xckd: http://xkcd.com/1174/

    --
    I apologize for the lack of a signature.
  25. Chicken or egg? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I never stopped buying magazines like Dr. Dobbs, and still would today. But they disappeared! Did magazines disappear because people stopped reading them, or did people stop reading them because they disappeared? There are basically no software development magazines left, and certainly zero on the magazine rack at the bookstore.

    1. Re:Chicken or egg? by RubberDogBone · · Score: 1

      Secret about magazines: copy sales never matter as much as advertising rates. You need copy sales to drive ad sales, of course. But the real money in magazines comes from the ads. Subscriber money just covers some costs.

      And actually, magazines make more money from single-copy magazine sales than they do from subscribers. So while you may feel like $30 a year is a good value, the magazine would rather sell five individual copies at $6 each. They make money on that. Not so much on subscriptions.

      If you really love the magazine, subscribe and also occasionally buy some single copies, and patronize the advertisers in a way that lets them know the magazine ads sent you there. Generally, the more ad pages in a magazine, the better it's doing.

      --
      Sig for hire.
  26. End of a niche magazine, not an era by RubberDogBone · · Score: 1

    When I think of "great magazines about computers" Computerworld hasn't been on that list in years. They were always the one you read after PC Mag, after PC World even, you know, if there was nothing else. Then there was Computerworld. I always suspected most people only ever read it when they got copies free at tradeshows.

    Anyway, there are still great computer magazines, in my opinion. Maximum PC is currently the top of the current class, maybe whatever PC Mag is doing as a second place.

    Unimpressed with the current version of CPU. PC World hasn't been relevant in a decade, reduced to lists of top-ten rankings of products already out of date before publication. Most of the others are either very specialized like Photoshop magazine or they've turned into web portals.

    --
    Sig for hire.
    1. Re:End of a niche magazine, not an era by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Not just at tradeshows. I used to read it regularly when there was an office subscription passed around with a routing slip.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  27. I still miss Byte... by wiredog · · Score: 1

    "Why PC's Crash, and Mainframes Don't" (April 98) is still somewhat relevant today. I wish the archives were online.

    --

    Best Slashdot Co
    1. Re:I still miss Byte... by An+ominous+Cow+art · · Score: 1

      I believe archive.org has (or had) a lot of Byte magazines downloadable as PDFs.

  28. So long. by ravenswood1000 · · Score: 1

    I tend to read things while I'm on the toilet. Since I don't want to bring a tablet into the bathroom with me to read it in web form and risk dropping the tablet into the toilet, Computer World will not be on my reading list anymore.

  29. bring back memories from the mini computer daze by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you could spot the wannabes because they read "computer world"