PC Magazine

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PC Magazine

Area of ​​Expertise computer
language English
First edition 1982
attitude 2009
editor Point Davis
Web link pcmag.com

The PC Magazine (abbreviated PC Mag ) is an English computer magazine , by Ziff Davis is published. The print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. An online edition has also been available since the end of 1994.

history

In an early review of the new IBM Personal Computer , the computer magazine BYTE announced that a new magazine called PC: The Independent Guide to the IBM Personal Computer (freely translated: "PC: The Independent Guide to the IBM Personal Computer") would appear . The first edition of the PC appeared in early 1982. The magazine was led by David Bunnell , Eddie Currie and Tony Gold, co-founders of Lifeboat Associates . Gold funded the magazine, but it quickly outgrew its market capital and he sold the PC to Ziff Davis, who moved the editorial team to New York City . The PC staff turned away from the magazine and founded PC World magazine . It wasn't until January 1986 that the PC was renamed PC Magazine as part of its first major redesign .

The third edition of the PC was square because it was so thick that conventional binding technology could not be used. The magazine was initially published every two months, but from the August 1982 issue onwards it was published monthly. Since the pc was still very thick, a reader recommended that it be published every two weeks. The editors responded with the words Please say you're kidding about the bi-weekly schedule. Please? (Loosely translated: "Please, are you kidding about the two-week plan. Please?"), but after December 1983, when the magazine reached a thickness of 800 pages, it was published every two weeks with 400 pages each.

In January 2008 the publication rhythm was changed back to the monthly editions. At the end of the 1990s, the highest number of issues in circulation was reached at 1.2 million. In November 2008 it was finally announced that the print edition would be discontinued with the January 2009 edition, but the online version would continue to appear. At that time there were around 600,000 print copies in circulation.

editor

The current editor-in-chief of PCMag.com is Dan Costa. Under his predecessor, Lance Ulanoff , Costa was employed as an executive editor. Ulanoff was editor-in-chief from July 2007 to July 2011. Before him, Jim Louderback held the position of editor-in-chief. But when he received an offer for the position of Chief Executive Officer at Revision3 , he left the editorial team of PC Magazine .

Overview

The PC Magazine provides reviews and previews of the latest hardware and software ready. The target audience are knowledgeable IT technicians. The articles are written by leading experts. This includes, for example, John C. Dvorak : his column is one of the most popular parts of the magazine. Other regular sections are:

  • First Looks ( a collection of reviews of newly released products)
  • Pipeline (a collection of short articles about developments in the computer industry)
  • Solutions ( A section containing various how-to articles)
  • User-to-User ( A section where questions submitted by readers are answered by the editorial staff.)
  • After Hours ( a section on a variety of electronic entertainment media and products)
  • Abort, retry, fail? (Cancel, retry, error?) (A joke page at the top of the magazine)

development

The magazine has changed a lot since it was first published. One of the biggest developments was the steadily decreasing print run: Due to the development of the Internet and the associated changes in the advertising market, computer magazines gradually lost their importance. This fact was also the main reason for the decision in November 2008 not to offer the printed version any longer. Mail order advertisements used to consist of several pages because as many products as possible had to be listed; today a single page with a reference to the website is sufficient. From the 1980s to the mid-1990s, the magazine had around 400 pages, with some issues even having 500 or 600 pages. At the end of the 1990s, however, the number of pages fell to 300, and later to just 200 pages.

Today the magazine has adapted to the realities of the 21st century. The focus shifted away from massive comparative tests of various computer systems, hardware and software and towards a broader market for end users, including smartphones, tablets, cameras and televisions. Since the late 1990s, hardware and software for Macintosh has also been increasingly covered.

The magazine has also commented on a number of controversial issues over time, such as copy protection (the magazine refused to give the Editors' Choice Award to products that were copy-protected) and the Intel 80286 processor.

The PC Magazine was a supporter earlier versions of the OS / 2 operating system. However, after the release of Windows 3.0 , it shifted to a strong advocacy of the Microsoft Windows environments. Some users of OS / 2 accused PC Magazine of ignorance of newer versions (2.x or later) of OS / 2.

During the dot-com bubble , the magazine devoted itself heavily to the many emerging Internet companies, drawing complaints from readers who claimed the magazine was giving up its original focus on computer technology. After the bubble burst in the early 2000s, PC Magazine reverted to its classic approach.

Different publishing methods

The online edition of the magazine started at the end of 1994. From 2004 a digital version of the PC magazine was made available via Zinio . In the 1980s, there was also the PC Disk Magazine - a special edition that was published on disk . At the end of the 1990s, a CD-ROM edition was also offered for a few years , which included interactive test reports and all the text from previous editions.

From 1993 to 1997 there was a special edition dealing with computer networks. This later developed into the "Net Tools" section, which was part of the normal edition, and finally into the two parts "Internet User" and "Internet Business".

Several books have been published under the name of PC Magazine . The name Dvoraks is also on some books.

Today, PC Magazine is also available for tablets in an interactive form: it can be obtained from the iTunes Store, Google Play and Zino, among others.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gregg Williams: A Closer Look at the IBM Personal Computer  - Internet Archive . In: BYTE , January 1982, p. 36
  2. ↑ Front cover . In: PC Magazine . Feb – Mar, 1982, pp. 1 ( google.com ).
  3. ^ A b Corey Sandler: IBM: Colossus of Armonk . In: Creative Computing . November 1984, p. 298 ( atarimagazines.com [accessed February 26, 2013]).
  4. ↑ Deborah Wise: Staff Walks Out on PC Magazine , Starts New Journal . In: InfoWorld . 4, No. 50, December 20, 1982, ISSN  0199-6649 , pp. 1, 8.
  5. ↑ David Bunnell: For Ten Minutes PC Was Free . In: PC Magazine . June – July, 1982, pp. 19 ( google.com ).
  6. ^ A b Bill Siebert: Double Time . In: PC Magazine . March 1983, p. 31 ( google.com ).
  7. ↑ Front cover . In: PC . December 1983 ( google.com ).
  8. ↑ PC Magazine issues list. (No longer available online.) PC Magazine, archived from the original on March 28, 2012 ; Retrieved June 29, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pcmag.com
  9. ↑ a b Lance Ulanoff: PC Magazine Goes 100% Digital. PC Magazine, November 19, 2008, accessed March 19, 2011 .
  10. ↑ Stephanie Clifford: PC Magazine, a Flagship for Ziff Davis, Will Cease Printing a Paper Version. In: The New York Times . November 19, 2008, accessed August 6, 2015 .
  11. ^ Dan Costa: Editor's Note: Six the Hard Way. In: PC Magazine. July 12, 2011, accessed April 5, 2012 .