Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ames!mailrus!uflorida!novavax!proxftl!bill From: bill@proxftl.UUCP (T. William Wells) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: R.I.P. BYTE: Open Letter to The Editor Message-ID: <720@proxftl.UUCP> Date: 7 Sep 88 16:13:54 GMT References: <6646@well.UUCP> <5479@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> <717@mcrware.UUCP> <606@unh.UUCP> <6756@well.UUCP> <1909@looking.UUCP> <513@afit-ab.arpa> <479@Aragorn.dde.uucp> <3047@teemc.UUCP> <661@proxftl.UUCP> <4060@teemc.UUCP> Reply-To: bill@proxftl.UUCP (T. William Wells) Organization: Proximity Technology, Ft. Lauderdale Lines: 87 Summary: Expires: Sender: Followup-To: Distribution: Keywords: First thing I want to say: I agree with the people who say that Byte is going down hill, insofar as that judgement means that Byte is no longer serving the interests of technically oriented computer people. I have less and less interest in Byte, except for how it helps me keep up with the marketplace. My major complaint about the Byte-bashing is that it mostly is complaints about why Byte doesn't serve the purposes of some particular individual. In article <4060@teemc.UUCP> wayne@teemc.UUCP (/\/\ichael R. \/\/ayne) writes: : I truly believe that most "serious" computer users have to have : a Usenet account. It just is not possible to keep current in our industry : without one. I disagree. We managed nicely until early this year. I do agree that Usenet makes the job easier, though. : What good does it do if they don't TELL THEIR READERS? I don't : care what they KNOW, I care what they PUBLISH! They make quite an effort : to keep up with the MS-DOS industry, I'll grant you that. I do wish it were that simple. The main problem that Byte and other computer mags have is that this is getting to be a big field. It is not *possible* for them to publish everything that might interest their readers. They have to have an editorial focus, something that lets them pick and choose. And the proper thing to complain about is the standard by which they choose. It is sad, but perhaps inevitable, that their editorial focus has been on the most visible parts of the field. : > As for why Usenet isn't mentioned: ask yourself : >what percentage of the personal computer *hackers* are on : >Usenet. (My guess is less than a percent.) Never mind the : >computer *users*. : : Most of the real *hackers* I know have AT LEAST one account on a : Usenet machine. Many have 4-5 in case some "go away". Many purchase : hardware to make REAL sure that their access doesn't "go away". Of course : most of them don't touch PCs. They use PC-Pursuit to call around the : country at night to explore Unix machines. Some start private access : machines. (Some spend hours trying to break into my machine :-) You have a biased sample. Most of the hackers I know don't have access to the networks (well, this was true till I started getting connected); the best they could do was to access a local BBS. From what I hear, that is changing. I do agree that access to the networks makes hacking much easier. One of the reasons I am buying a machine for myself is so that I can get into the networks without having to worry about using company resources. : This is the impression I get of the magazine. As I said earlier, : my article was satire, with a point. BiX gets space EVERY issue, how often : do other networks get mentioned? Commodore has sold 700,000 Amigas, how much : space do they get? In the last six issues, four of them list Commodore in the editorial index. JP mentions the Amiga occasionally; I vaguely recall that another of their columnists mentions the Amiga fairly regularly. And in April they had a review of the Amiga 2000. Not too bad for a machine with less than three percent of the market. : What about FSF, the single most revolutionary thing : going on in the software industry? Nah, let's write about something REALLY : important, a Tandy clone, yeah, that's it. : : Now THERE's a thought! Let's see if we can get JP replaced with : Richard Stallman! I'd buy (and ignore) the rest of the magazine just for : that. Uk. However much we might disagree on Byte (and I think we actually agree and are arguing over words), let's not push FSF and friends. Their philosophy would make the computer business nonexistent. Please do not respond to this on the net; if you want to talk about the FSF, send me e-mail. : This is an interesting point. I've been doing a bit of research : on this. It appears that the McGraw-Hill people are getting a LOT of : people who ARE cancelling the magazine because of the tact it has taken. And that is an interesting point. I really hope that you are right; I'd too would like to see Byte return to its original intentions, and this might let them know that there are plenty of readers who agree. --- Bill novavax!proxftl!bill