The Demise of MacWorld Magazine
So IDG has ceased publication of the print edition of MacWorld Magazine, which I can understand. Even more disturbing is that almost the entire editorial staff has been laid off, including Jason Snell, Serenity Caldwell, Dan Miller. This puts the future of the online edition in question in my opinion. Yet virtually no mention of this in the Apple universe. Why is that?
Any opinions, thoughts?
Comments
Apple needs to effing step it up with iBooks Author. Turn it into an application that makes InDesign quake in fear. Expand its scope to include magazine templates. BE THE END OF PAPER.
Nobody cares about these publications any more. These magazines became popular before the internet. The internet only really took off in the late 90s:
http://royal.pingdom.com/2008/04/04/how-we-got-from-1-to-162-million-websites-on-the-internet/
By that time, the early magazines had 15 year runs. Even at that point, broadband wasn't ubiquitous so the CDs that came with large free software installers were good to get. I had loads of issues of Macworld and some others but pretty much as soon as the internet took off big-time in the early 2000s, every issue went in the trash and I haven't bought a single magazine, physical or digital since.
News now travels so fast that any kind of curated publication is too slow so that cuts out a great deal of what makes publications compelling. What's left for them is to have long editorials and reviews or interviews with people but the readership of a magazine is so small relative to the internet that it's wasteful limiting it to that audience when they know that people will scan the pages of anything really interesting and upload it and they just won't be the ones getting the online revenue.
Reviews are also too slow to come out and people like to see videos now, which aren't possible in physical magazines.
There's also the issue about general interest in technology. Technology has become so pervasive that it's becoming like talking about a new oven or toaster. Years ago when we saw the emergence of graphics for games like Myst, Doom and Quake or apps that let you do video editing and effects, it was a new era of capability. That's over now because it's commonplace.
What keeps the old media going is old people:
http://www.economist.com/node/18527255
What happens in future will be defined by younger generations and they're growing up all-digital.
Oh, wow. This must've been in the works for some time though because Jason Snell has been moving his team of people into podcasting and online content with his own Tech Hive and The Incomparable network of shows (all very good stuff, BTW). He even has a podcast where they amusingly play Dungeons & Dragons, which is much better than it sounds, called Total Party Kill.
Well, I guess I didn’t make my point clear enough. IDG has not only shut down the print edition, they have let the entire editorial staff go. These are the same people who manage the online website. I’m saying that MacWorld could go away totally. Those people are some talented, professional writers, unlike the AI editorial staff. MacWorld’s testing labs (MacLabs), one of the best, is going away. I have been a MacWorld subscriber, on and off, since 1984. It’s just sad that the premier site for Apple advocacy is going away and all we are left with is MacRumors and AppleInsider, not exactly bastions of credible information about Apple.
If you're slyly suggesting AppleInsider hire some of the MacWorld staff, I don't see that happening. Brace for whatever bilge water Dilger has coming...