joel@gould9.UUCP (Joel West) (12/27/86)
InfoWorld is my major source of industry information, although many on
this group feel its accuracy is unreliable, particularly on anything
technical.
Some observations after receiving the latest (Dec. 22) issue:
1) The magazine is converting to a throwaway (the journalistic term
for any publication given away free). I guess they couldn't find
enough people willing to pay $39/year, or they needed the demographic
control for their advertisers, or they found they couldn't compete
in an industry dominated by throwaways. (E.g., Computer Retailing
News, ComputerWorld, etc.)
2) As noted in a letter to the editor, the writer of the closest
thing they have to a technical offering (Tech Talk column) is
afraid of C! I'd hate to see what intelligent comments he'd
have about Lisp or assembly language.
3) Page 26 announces the "Mac World Exposition, sponsored by Mac World"
If they turned to Page 54, or pulled the magazine off the shelf,
they would note that it is spelled "Macworld" or perhaps "MACWORLD".
4) Their lead newsblurb is about Nantucket demoing a dBase product
at "Mac World Exposition" (at least they're consistent) fails
to note that Nantucket bought dMac III from Format Software.
Finally, on page 8 and 53 they note that they need experienced reporters.
The ad indicates they expect five stories a week out of each reporter,
as well as longer feature articles. (If you've never done it before,
that's a very demanding pace.)
My guess is that they only pay about $25k-$30k a year. That would
mean that they attract young, non-technical writers (what programmer
would could write would work for $30k) who once they get experienced,
either get kicked upstairs to editing or jump ship to an easier or
better-paying job.
--
Joel West MCI Mail: 282-8879
Western Software Technology, POB 2733, Vista, CA 92083
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