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RIP, David Bunnell, Founder of More Major Computer Magazines Than Anyone (fastcompany.com)

Posted by msmash on from the rest-in-peace dept.

Reader harrymcc writes: David Bunnell has passed away. He stumbled into a job at PC pioneer MITS in the 1970s and went on to create the first PC magazine and first PC conference -- and, later on, PC Magazine, PC World, Macworld, and Macworld Expo. He was a remarkable guy on multiple fronts. Harry McCracken, who edited some of those magazines, shared some thoughts about why Bunnell mattered so much in a post at Fast Company.

9 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. RIP by unixisc · · Score: 2

    RIP, Mr Burnell

    1. Re: RIP by 110010001000 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Thoughts and prayers to his family and friends.

    2. Re: RIP by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Thoughts and prayers is all that is needed.

    3. Re: RIP by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Stay classy, AC

  2. thanks for nothing by nimbius · · Score: 1, Interesting

    PC Magazine, PC World, Macworld, and Macworld Expo.

    thanks for 40 years of shilling some of the most unaccountable garbage in computing history, and for spearheading a magazine that had a well established policy of avoiding even remotely damning criticism of advertisers or industry leaders. thanks for not only refusing to challenge, but actively pushing the insufferable fanboy culture that apple subsists on while conveniently ignoring stories of labor abuse and exploit denial at Apple.

    Yours was truly the mcdonalds of tech literature shovelled onto the desk of the CIO and into the gaping maw of the road warriors carry-on luggage. so many shops are indelibly littered with your fly-by-night huckster hardware and bloatware its a miracle modern computing hasnt come to some shuttering halt in the wake of a publication that did everything in its power to keep the playing field "windows or mac."

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:thanks for nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Macworld cast out one of its largest mail order advertisers after widespread complaints about undelivered products. See "What's Wrong With Mail Order?", December 1987 Macworld Magazine, pp. 82-101. Bunnell was editor-in-chief during this era of Macworld.

      His successor, Jerry Borrell, remarks that he caught a lot of flak for doing the same in his final column. He notes it cost the magazine "about $200,000". (Macworld Magazine, November 1992, p.26)

      I can't speak for the rest of the publications you mentioned. Macworld did turn into crap after 1997 but, as I was told by a former contributing editor, most of the staff was fired wholesale when management changed. R.I.P. The Good Era of Macworld Magazine.

      Sincerely,
      —I Spent Too Much Time Reading Macworld As a Child

  3. magazine memories by unixisc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Actually, PC Magazine was a pretty good magazine in the 90s, when there actually was a healthy PC industry in the US - close to 100 PC companies, based not just in the Bay Area but also in the MidWest and other places in the US. I used to enjoy those magazines. PC World was much more simplistic - didn't really like that. Wasn't a follower of the Macs then, although I was somewhat interested when the Mac cloning program was on, and when there were multiple PPC OSs in contention for the Mac - Copeland, BeOS, OS/2... until Jobs returned to Apple merging NEXT along w/ it.

    Some of the ZD magazines out there were pretty good - PC Magazine, InfoWorld.... The gem amongst the magazines was BYTE - that was one that I actually subscribed to annually, until one fine day, the company just went out of business.

    1. Re:magazine memories by unixisc · · Score: 1

      Actually, Byte covered most major computer architectures that were out there: it wasn't a PC centric magazine. They covered trends in microprocessors, OSs, networking, and other related technologies. Reading them was an enriching experience

    2. Re:magazine memories by miller701 · · Score: 1

      I would read stuff in BYTE that I had never heard of and then 6 months - 1 year later see it pop up in other places as the next big thing.