The June Edition of Network Computing Magazine is apparently the last (printed) edition of this fine and (relatively) ancient magazine. On page 12 of the copy that I received in the mail a week ago, editor Art Wittmann writes that "the issue you're reading now will be the last standalone print edition we produce."
I've been reading Network Computing for years. I'm not a network engineer and so only about 30% of the content made sense to me--many of the product reviews were for software that I would never use (being large enterprise in nature) and did not have the necessary background in routers and switches and protocols to completely digest. Nevertheless, every month seemed to offer up some morsel of useful information such as an article a year or two back on cellular repeaters that would allow cell-phones to function in otherwise serviceless areas (such as the bowels of large buildings), or another on email spam filtering software that happened to be published just as I was looking at getting an exchange server implemented.
Once I even had a Network Computing representative come out to talk to me in person. I had received a telephone call from the representative asking if he could stop by the following week to ask me a few questions. "Of course!" I said, thinking that for some odd reason he wished to interview me and that perhaps I would be mentioned in the magazine. All week long, I waited and wondered and anticipated. Would I be famous? How had he heard about me? What would he talk to me about?
Finally the day of the "interview" arrived and I received a call from the receptionist to alert me of the magazine representative's arrival at the front desk. I had booked a small conference room in advance and guided him to it, trying to be my most obsequious. He carried a small satchel. We made ourselves comfortable in the small conference room and as we chatted about the hot summer weather and the traffic he removed from the satchel a clipboard and a copy of the most recent copy of Network Computing.
It took me two moments to realize that this was not be be an interview and my disappointment was crushing. He proceeded to show me various cover illustrations and advertisements from back editions of Network Computing and to ask me if I remembered reading the issue, seeing the advertisements and what my reactions had been. Some of them I remembered--most I did not. I couldn't (and still can't) believe that the magazine would go through the expense of sending someone out to ask questions like that of readers in person.
Well, my first thought upon reading that Network Computing was to cease printed publication was that the magazine had been yet another victim of the internet. In fact, a Slashdot.org thread a few days back discussed this topic: The Neilsen ratings company had announced that they were changing the system by which they rated web sites to favor web sites with indepth content where visitors stayed for extended periods over sites (such as google) that have high numbers of unique visitors but where visitors rarely remain for long.
Can a printed magazine such as Network Computing compete with dozens of blogs offering similar but less polished content, such as http://www.tomshardware.com/ and the ilk? Web sites and blogs have a fraction of the costs of a printed magazine. Instead of sales reps there are internet ads provided by Google or Yahoo. The need for graphic designers is lessened and copy goes unedited to the blog.
However, I think Network Computing's demise as a printed periodical is due less to the rising popularity of blogs than it is to the decreasing popularity of bleeding edge network hardware and software. My CycleWorld magazine and my wife's Oprah magazine seem as plump as ever. I'll bet that what's happened to Network Computing is less an indication of the future of printed media than it is an indication of the leveling out of the demand for network technology.
I've been reading Network Computing for years. I'm not a network engineer and so only about 30% of the content made sense to me--many of the product reviews were for software that I would never use (being large enterprise in nature) and did not have the necessary background in routers and switches and protocols to completely digest. Nevertheless, every month seemed to offer up some morsel of useful information such as an article a year or two back on cellular repeaters that would allow cell-phones to function in otherwise serviceless areas (such as the bowels of large buildings), or another on email spam filtering software that happened to be published just as I was looking at getting an exchange server implemented.
Once I even had a Network Computing representative come out to talk to me in person. I had received a telephone call from the representative asking if he could stop by the following week to ask me a few questions. "Of course!" I said, thinking that for some odd reason he wished to interview me and that perhaps I would be mentioned in the magazine. All week long, I waited and wondered and anticipated. Would I be famous? How had he heard about me? What would he talk to me about?
Finally the day of the "interview" arrived and I received a call from the receptionist to alert me of the magazine representative's arrival at the front desk. I had booked a small conference room in advance and guided him to it, trying to be my most obsequious. He carried a small satchel. We made ourselves comfortable in the small conference room and as we chatted about the hot summer weather and the traffic he removed from the satchel a clipboard and a copy of the most recent copy of Network Computing.
It took me two moments to realize that this was not be be an interview and my disappointment was crushing. He proceeded to show me various cover illustrations and advertisements from back editions of Network Computing and to ask me if I remembered reading the issue, seeing the advertisements and what my reactions had been. Some of them I remembered--most I did not. I couldn't (and still can't) believe that the magazine would go through the expense of sending someone out to ask questions like that of readers in person.
Well, my first thought upon reading that Network Computing was to cease printed publication was that the magazine had been yet another victim of the internet. In fact, a Slashdot.org thread a few days back discussed this topic: The Neilsen ratings company had announced that they were changing the system by which they rated web sites to favor web sites with indepth content where visitors stayed for extended periods over sites (such as google) that have high numbers of unique visitors but where visitors rarely remain for long.
Can a printed magazine such as Network Computing compete with dozens of blogs offering similar but less polished content, such as http://www.tomshardware.com/ and the ilk? Web sites and blogs have a fraction of the costs of a printed magazine. Instead of sales reps there are internet ads provided by Google or Yahoo. The need for graphic designers is lessened and copy goes unedited to the blog.
However, I think Network Computing's demise as a printed periodical is due less to the rising popularity of blogs than it is to the decreasing popularity of bleeding edge network hardware and software. My CycleWorld magazine and my wife's Oprah magazine seem as plump as ever. I'll bet that what's happened to Network Computing is less an indication of the future of printed media than it is an indication of the leveling out of the demand for network technology.
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