Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!husc6!psuvax1!shire.cs.psu.edu!dae
From: dae@shire.cs.psu.edu (Dave Eckhardt)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: R.I.P. BYTE:  Open Letter to The Editor
Summary: Part of the problem--new editors
Message-ID: <3784@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu>
Date: 4 Aug 88 03:00:23 GMT
References: <6646@well.UUCP> <342@eurtrx.UUCP>
Sender: news@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu
Reply-To: dae@shire.cs.psu.edu (Dave Eckhardt)
Organization: Penn State University
Lines: 29

In article <342@eurtrx.UUCP> evas@eurtrx.UUCP (Eelco van Asperen) writes:
>I get the feeling that BYTE is no longer the main activity of the
>editors; they like BIX so much they have no time left to make a good
>magazine....

Which editors?  I first noticed signs of decay around two years ago
when they got a whole new editorial staff.  Instantly they started
using sll sorts of new fonts, "modern" layouts with bars of this color
with that stipple pattern, and so on--more energy spent on appearances
without noticeable improvement in content.

The *worst* thing was that they tossed one of the *best* features of
the old Byte.  Time was, you could open the front cover of your Byte
magazine and read straight through to the back, close it, and start
waiting for next month's issue.

The first thing the new editors did was start doing the "continued
on page 11,232,445,343, column 79, sector 3" garbage.  I seriously
considered dropping my subscription right then and there.

To be fair, Steve Ciarcia's column still interests me.  Aside from
that, it's only random scraps.

The only reason I'm still a subscriber is that I keep getting it
given to me as a gift...

Is anybody from Byte listening?

--Daemon