The July '98 issue of BYTE magazine was the last; the magazine that spawned a generation of techies has closed its doors. At the end of May, the entire editorial staff, about 80 people, was laid off and essentially the magazine is no more.
CMP Media Inc. recently bought a number of technical publications from McGraw Hill including BYTE, Data Communications and LAN Times for $28.6 million (£20 million). One of its first actions was to close BYTE.
The demise of BYTE brings a certain nostalgia for the 1980's computers - the first IBM AT's and XT's - and the old clunky cover design. It was the only magazine that didn't shy away from covering the technical issues for both the hardware and software PC hobbyist as well as for the professional developer.
It's hard to see why the decision to close was taken but it doesn't bode well for the up-and-coming technical journalists (if any) or the technically-minded programmer at the end of the century. It's hard to see how a 23-year-old publication with a circulation of around 500,000 cannot survive. Bizarrely, BYTE may have contributed to its own downfall by its support for the Web.
Who really needs to pay for a copy of BYTE when its just as easy to do some surfing and find out the information yourself? BYTE was one of the first magazines to take a real technical interest in Web technology. Now every product manufacturer's information is online with all the attendant marketing hype. As a software developer and technical writer, this causes me to worry on two counts. Online product information from the manufacturers can and should be taken with a very large grain of salt. Give me objective review any day. The closure of BYTE contributes to the general dumbing-down of the programming culture.
To be fair, CMP Media Inc. have plans to relaunch BYTE in September with a new staff and, according to Barbara Kerbel of CMP, "we do not expect to make BYTE less technical". But what is BYTE without Jerry Pournelle's `Chaos Manor', without the strong editorial line and obvious love of all things technical for the sake of . Will I be the only one wanting to cancel my subscription to the resurrection?
Of course BYTE is not the only magazine to close recently as there is a major consolidation in the publishing press. NetGuide and The Web have closed or been merged with other magazines. Mecklermedia recently bought Boardwatch: are we going to see the same things happen there? Wired too has changed hands.
For an online writer, Web publications just don't pay as well as their printed cousins. The style tends to be terse and to the point, often leaving less space and scope to cover technical issues in a complete manner. They work well for supplementary information for a printed article but I've yet to be convinced that they can act as a complete replacement.
Godfrey Nolan is at godfrey@riis.com See also www.riis.com