One of the oldest computer magazines is shutting down its print edition. The magazine arguably created the concept of comparative reivews and benchmarks, and its columnists and Editor’s Choice awards were always great. I’m sad to see it go, but the reality is that tech print publications are slowly dying, and most of the writers are doing more of their writing online. I knew PC Mag would be going away from print soon, as their magazine had just gotten smaller and smaller. I bought a copy a couple years back when I went to Colorado, expecting to have plenty of reading material for the plane ride (as PC Mag was usually full of articles and content), and there was little content — mostly short blurbs that said to read more at their Web site.
It saddens me, too, because back in the day, long before I got married and had kids, I went to college to become a journalist, specifically a technology journalist, and would’ve loved to have written for one of these types of publications. When I got married and had a family to feed (which was before I got out of school), I gave up being a reporter and decided that tech was going to pay my bills and feed my family while being a geek writer probably wouldn’t. I always had a place in my heart for tech magazines, and even did several reports and assignments on a few of them (was the only guy in my classes that did, with most of them focusing on music/culture magazines). I still have a WinMag coffee mug from when I got published on the back page of the magazine back in the day.* But I saw this day coming, like I’m sure most folks did.
* That coffee mug, a couple Intel bunny people dolls, my “Cloned by Ghost” ghost doll (before Symantec bought the program), and my “I’m Feeling Lucky” Google boxers that I won during Google’s original beta period (long before they were re-released) are probably my geekiest historical things that aren’t computer parts. What do you guys have?