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Vintage Byte Magazine Library

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Re: Vintage Byte Magazine Library

#91

Post by drunkenmagician »

cpr wrote: post #2

Nostalgia! Was an early editor/writer for Byte in the very early days (first few issues), though had to back off due to school load (in college at the time). Carl Helmers and Dan Fylstra (founder of VisiCorp (publisher of VisiCalc), friend from high school days in San Diego) and I were all working at Intermetrics in Cambridge, and got together to start Byte, visiting Wayne and Virginia Green (big ham radio publisher…

Nostalgia indeed. I was a long time Byte subscriber, and along with Dr Dobbs, it was my 'source of truth' for tech news. I've spent far to long reminiscing today over these Byte issues, ah the memories, a real blast. Now back to work ;(

Re: Vintage Byte Magazine Library

#92

Post by rchaud »

ddingus wrote: post #38
rchaud wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A digital-only publication cannot survive without playing the same content strategy games as all the other publications out there. A new BYTE would quickly start diluting its value by offering a podcast, YT channel, IG/Snap Stories, affiliate links and a website slathered with Adsense ads. You'll wonder why they bothered rebooting it in the first place.

Or... It's subscription only, and maybe those other things don't matter so much.

MIT Technology Review is subscription-based and they have podcasts and YT channels. You could run expensive ads in print mags like Scientific American or Harvard Business Review, but you'll reach a far bigger audience online.

This will be true even if the subscription fee was hundreds of dollars per year. Podcasts and short videos are effectively low-cost infomercials for your product. Their purpose is not to make revenue by reading out intermittent ads, but attract an audience that might subscribe.

Re: Vintage Byte Magazine Library

#93

Post by tomcam »

Sunspark wrote: post #81
tomcam wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The September 1983 issue of COMPUTE! was my introduction to programming. Still have it, and just showed it to my kid, who didn't understand its appeal at all. I later became a columnist, and it was an amazing experience.

What was it like being a columnist in the 80s? Did everyone work from home and hold meetings over the telephone, or did they have a shared office space?

The former. Worked from home and used phone or email. It was great and paid OK (I think $500 per column, plus all the commercial software I wanted). I also wrote reviews, so if I wanted to learn databases I would write a database roundup. Didn’t go to school for programming, so this was getting paid to learn. And of course being a published writer looked great when applying for a job.

The full-timers did have a real office, BTW. At one point the owners of Penthouse bought COMPUTE! and Omni, so my churchgoing editor found himself putting a porn mag online…

Re: Vintage Byte Magazine Library

#94

Post by nunez »

Koshkin wrote: post #35
nunez wrote: post #29

Looking at some of these, it's kind of sad how it went from a deeply technical magazine (the earliest publication had an ad to join ACM, and it has several circuit diagrams) to a pop-tech supermarket mag (with tons of ads, lots of high-level hit pieces (how to get ready for y2k, for example), and A BAJILLIONTY ADS. I'm glad that they kept some semblance of technical content towards the end.

Many initially interesting publications have suffered the same fate. As a more recent example, Ars Technica is getting there.

I'm even more sad about Ars and Anandtech since I still remember when they were both deeply technical

Re: Vintage Byte Magazine Library

#95

Post by ddingus »

rchaud wrote: post #92
ddingus wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or... It's subscription only, and maybe those other things don't matter so much.

MIT Technology Review is subscription-based and they have podcasts and YT channels. You could run expensive ads in print mags like Scientific American or Harvard Business Review, but you'll reach a far bigger audience online. This will be true even if the subscription fee was hundreds of dollars per year. Podcasts and short videos are effectively low-cost infomercials for your product. Their purpose is not to make re…

Agreed, and those things can even deliver some value and remain sales tools for the main product.

I fail to see how doing those things has to dilute the main product.

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