bill_g's Profile

  • Nov 21, 2005
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Latest comments made by: bill_g

  • Re: classifieds -- let's not forget that Craigslist, etc., have an edge over newspaper classifieds primarily because they're free. If they lose the financial ability to support free ads, or just decide to start charging, they'll lose that advantage. Similarly, if newspapers decide to stop charging for some of their classifieds, they'll gain an advantage. (One thing that would hit newspapers hard would be to lose real estate advertising. Typically, those ads contribute a nice weekly shot in the arm.) I still maintain that it comes down to content. If there's something I want that is only available in a magazine, then I'll buy it. It it is on the web, I'll get it there. However, my own preference regarding reading anything more than a few paragraphs in length is to read it in hardcopy. Reading at length on a monitor is much less pleasurable than the alternative.
    bill_g had this to say on Nov 03, 2005 Posts: 3
    Is The Web Killing The Computer Magazine?
  • >>...editors are invalueable... As an editor in a different lifetime, I'll enthusiastically second that. We're inclined to make comparisons of a single print publication with the entire web. E.g., why buy Macworld when you've already got the web? Well, the web is a mess and no one is editing it. That's why Google is a $100 billion corporation. Just about everything might be on the web, but, at any given time, "everything" just gets in our way. Google, et al, allow us to create ad hoc filters to weed out garbage and deliver content we might want to read. At its most basic, that's editing: act as a filter for your readers and, with a bit of luck, deliver content they want. If enough readers are willing to pay for it, you might manage to sell enough advertising to stay afloat. Frankly, I doubt that content that is not financially viable in magazine format can be financially viable on the web. Products costs are production costs.
    bill_g had this to say on Nov 02, 2005 Posts: 3
    Is The Web Killing The Computer Magazine?
  • Agreed. Magazine freaks have become web freaks. I take the RSS feeds from MacWorld and a few others, but it's been years since I subscribed to a computer mag. But, man, I really miss Byte. In its prime -- 400-page editions and all -- it was essential reading. No single publication, paper or web, comes close. I'm much more interested in the quality of the content, not how the content is delivered. I can live without speedy delivery of bilge.
    bill_g had this to say on Nov 02, 2005 Posts: 3
    Is The Web Killing The Computer Magazine?