Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!plaid!chuq
From: chuq@plaid.Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: MacWorld vs. MacUser vs. Macazine vs. ??
Message-ID: <73405@sun.uucp>
Date: 18 Oct 88 15:44:26 GMT
References: <8810171949.AA26244@decwrl.dec.com>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: chuq@sun.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach)
Organization: Fictional Reality
Lines: 85

>I currently subscribe to MacWorld, and am considering dropping it, as I feel
>the ratio of advertising to content is too high.  I've read a couple of issues
>apiece of MacUser and Macazine, and they seem to be better (Macazine better
>than MacUser).  Anyone like to comment on their favorite, and why?

Well, now that I'm not writing for Mac Horizons any more (may it rest in
peace...) there isn't any problem with conflicts of interest, so what the
heck...

I've grown to really like Macazine. It is really the only Mac magazine that
puts its users up front. Their columnists know what they're talking about
and they aren't afraid to pull punches (the flap over Clapp's 'Shareware is
Dead' column is still going down in some places.....). 

Their reviews are more rigorous than anyone. I can't remember a time when I
saw a review I thought was fluff. I've talked to Levitus (the editor) a
couple of times on possible articles, and the future directions he wants to
take the magazine make it look better and better to me. They are *very*
aware of the potential problems that hit MacWorld and MacUser (the glossy
can't-upset-the-big-busness-and-advertisers-syndrome) and try to avoid it.
They do believe that they are the ombudsman for the users, rather than
shills for the advertisers. 

Macazine was the first major Mac publication to put its money where its
mouth was and put the magazine together with DTP. They are the only magazine
with a policy to not review programs until they show up in shrink-wrap [this
isn't strictly true: MacUser has such a policy, but they do it anyway by
calling them 'previews' instead of reviews. If it smells like a duck...]

Macazine: good stuff. It's the only one I'd write for these days, because
	it's the only one I wouldn't mind being associated with.

Macworld/MacUser: You flip a coin, you take your choice. Both are
big-glossies, advertiser/big business/hype-fluff oriented Byte-clones. The
only *real* difference is that Macworld makes no pretensions towards being
anything else, while MacUser still wants you to believe it's in it for
*you*. hah. 

MacUser no longer has Doug Clapp, which was its savings grace. He's writing
for Macazine now. MacUser also no longer has Steve Bobker, which can only
help the magazine. Unfortunately, MacUser *still* has John Dvorak, which
really shows the real disdain MacUser management has for its readers.

As a complete aside, Dvorak was bitching in his Sunday Examiner column that
Apple's stopped inviting him to parties and press events, along with another
un-named person that, from what I can tell, is Denise Caruso (ex-Macintosh
Today person and technology columnist for the Examiner). He seems to think
this is an affront against God or something. Me, I think it shows there *is*
hope, since Dvorak's been an idiot since day one and I'm glad someone at
Apple is finally tired of listening to him bash anything that isn't an IBM
machine. Way to go, Apple.

My personal preference is MacWorld. I think having a Byte-clone around is
useful, since it's the place where all the mail-order ads and hype shows up.
And Macworld does reasonable articles for its orientation. The MacUser stuff
is generally light on content and fluffy. When both magazines cover the same
topic at the same time (Word processing) MacWorld beats MacUser to a pulp.

If you only want one magazine, take macazine. If you want two, add Macworld.
Beyond that? It's up to you. I'll probably drop MacUser *again* when my
subscription is up.

Other Zines: Not a whole lot these days. MacWeek, if you can qualify,
does a good job of keeping up with Mac market. If you need a weekly
update, that is.  Personally, I've decided I don't, especially with the
nets around. With the death of Macintosh Today (not surprisingly,
considering the magazine always had an ego the size of Montana) it's
the only weekly, and by the time M-T died, MacWeek was beating it into
a pulp -- by remembering it was in the Macintosh news market and not in
the "We're such a great magazine" ego-trip market.

Mactutor: I dropped my subscription, and never noticed. What more can I say?

As far as I know, that's about it in Macland these days.... We really need a
good technical magazine (like what Dr. Dobb's *used* to be). I know of one
magazine that's starting up in January, but I'm not convinced it will be
what we're looking for here. 

Then, of course, there are the HyperCArd magazines. The less said about
them, the better, at least until they decide to publish regularly, and until
we find out of there *is* a market for them.


Chuq Von Rospach			chuq@sun.COM		Delphi: CHUQ
Editor/Publisher, OtherRealms