Who couldn’t have seen that comming for Network Magazine. It really has
nothing to offer. I hope Miller Freeman looses a whole crud-load of
money on it. They should have left OS/2 Mag alone, at least with us they
had a dedicated ( if small ) subscriber base.

NOBODY on this list could possibly miss OS/2 Magazine more than I… it
put kibble in the kitty’s bowls around here. It was also a true editorial
*home* for me, and I had the distinct honor of learning from one of the
best editors on the planet.

But the magazine business is a business, and it had to make money. It
didn’t make money. It didn’t suffer from lack of subscribers (much less
enthusiastic and dedicated subscribers); it didn’t have enough
*advertisers* and they’re the ones who pay the bills.

(Before someone chimes in to “prove” something about Editorial being
influenced by said advertising… I don’t care who pays for all those ad
pages, just as long as someone does. I literally have no idea who
advertises in the magazine I write for, because I’m so intent on finding
the errors in the writing. Uh, to be able to improve it, you see.)

Because the OS/2 ISV community was composed of so many tiny startups, the
ad rates at OS/2 Magazine were comparatively low. (I know what they were
at OS/2 Magazine, and I know what they are at Sm@rt Reseller — both of
which have a circulation about 60,000. SR is more than double the ad
rate.) And even then, the small companies couldn’t afford to pay. There
weren’t enough big ones to carry them.

NOBODY was happy about closing OS/2 Magazine. Unfortunately, there wasn’t
a business case for it. ….

This was pointed out in one of the last issues (I have a small stack of
them here.) They also pointed out that the information in their
magazine could be obtained for free on the Web. The lack of return on
the advertising dollar spent at OS/2 Magazine, and thus meant the end of
the magazine.

IBM will buy back a crud-load of their own stock to put confidence in the
Stock Market when it is falling, but they won’t say a few encouraging
words, backed up by action, about OS/2 to put confidence in it.

The PERCEPTION of IBM’s position on OS/2 has hurt it more than what they
have actually done, although that hasn’t helped either. And this is a
perception that is hurting IBM’s credibility in matters beyond OS/2 as
well. I wish I could make them see that.