Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c:12435 comp.lang.c++:1539 comp.lang.misc:1827 comp.sys.ibm.pc:18910 comp.sys.apple:7370 comp.sys.mac:20127
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!pasteur!agate!violet.berkeley.edu!dean
From: dean@violet.berkeley.edu (Dean Pentcheff)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.apple,comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Allen Holub on DDJ & C-Chest (long)
Summary: Is the downward progression of computer magazines inevitable?
Keywords: DDJ, C-Chest, magazines
Message-ID: <14047@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 9 Sep 88 06:26:58 GMT
References: <22873@amdcad.AMD.COM>
Sender: usenet@agate.BERKELEY.EDU
Followup-To: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.apple,comp.sys.mac
Organization: University of California, Berkeley   Department of Zoology
Lines: 25

Even before this missive came through I had decided to let both my DDJ
and PC Tech Journal subscriptions lapse.  In the past year or two both
of them slowly but surely became far less interesting.  DDJ seemed to
be spending more and more time on hyping !new! technologies and !new!
methodologies, while reducing coverage of how to get interesting things
done well with existing computers.  PC Tech Journal has slowly gone
from being a programmer's guide on getting the most out of the PC
architecture to being a business system integrator and buyer's guide.

Let's face it: programmers (especially non-full-time ones) don't rate
squat with advertisers.  What do we buy?  A (one [1]) computer every
five or so years, and maybe a compiler or operating system every couple
of years.  A systems integrator may put together a contract for a
100-machine LAN in a day.  As a publisher, there's not much choice
there, unless you feel like doing a public service for programmers.

Unfortunately, I don't see much of a way around this problem.  Suggestions,
anyone?

-Dean

-----------------
Dean Pentcheff	(dean@violet.berkeley.edu)
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"A university is a place where people pay high prices for goods which they then
proceed to leave on the counter when they go out of the store."  Loren Eiseley