Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!ucbvax!hplabs!pyramid!cbmvax!daveh From: daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: R.I.P. BYTE: Open Letter to The Editor Message-ID: <4606@cbmvax.UUCP> Date: 30 Aug 88 21:10:21 GMT References: <661@proxftl.UUCP> Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA Lines: 36 in article <661@proxftl.UUCP>, bill@proxftl.UUCP (T. William Wells) says: > Look, they are in business to inform their readers, who are no > longer just those who brought the magazine into existence. *Of > course* they are going to shift their focus, since their reader > have changed. It is legitimate to complain that the magazine no > longer fills *your* needs. And to change magazines if they don't > listen. It is not legitimate to comdemn them for it. Sound to me they're changing their focus for one reason only -- buckeroonies from their advertisers. If they're attracting readers from outside their traditional readership, those folks must be there for some reason. My guess is that they went there for something different, maybe they're outgrowing the single-line computer magazines, or just want something with a broader view. I certainly read BYTE for that latter reason. BYTE can't possibly cover Macs better than a Mac-specific, or PCs better than a PC-specific, so why should it even try. > Oh, don't be silly. If they weren't serving their existing > readers, they'd be getting so many cancellations that their > parent company would tell them to change. I don't think that's necessarily true. They can cut the level of that service severly before most readers will cancel their subscriptions. They loose the disenchanted folks during re-subscription time. Even though I take about 1/2 hour to read the thing from cover to cover, rather than the several nights it used to take, I probably won't cancel (maybe if I could "join byte.cancellations" on BIX I would, but otherwise, it's just too much trouble). I'm certainly not going to resubscribe. > Bill > novavax!proxftl!bill -- Dave Haynie "The 32 Bit Guy" Commodore-Amiga "The Crew That Never Rests" {ihnp4|uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: D-DAVE H BIX: hazy "I can't relax, 'cause I'm a Boinger!"