The April editions of Maximum PC and MacLife are now available at a bookstore near you. Sadly, they will be the final print versions of these two historic computer publications. They date back to 1996 (and were previously called Boot and MacAddict, respectively). It is indeed a piece of bad news for computer publication readers.
Both publications will only be available in electronic format beginning with their next editions. But we are not writing this because the old Maximum PC and MacLife versions are no longer available. We are writing as they were the final two remaining computer periodicals in the United States. The computer publication era officially ended with their abandoning of print.
This assertion is susceptible to challenge. 2600: The Hacker Quarterly has been published since 1984 and can be classified as a computer publication. But the digest-sized monthly magazine has the production characteristics of a fanzine. Moreover, its subject matter relates little to yesteryear’s sleek consumer computer mags.
Linux Magazine, its more scientific version publication Admin is still in print. It is initially the American version of a German magazine. And you would be surprised to know that Maximum PC and MacLife may have barely counted as US magazines at the end. It is because their editorial activities shifted from the Bay Area to the UK at some time in recent years. Future, a huge British publishing corporation, owns both.
What do Experts Say?
Nonetheless, experts declare that the closure of these two dormant publications is the final chapter of computer periodicals in the United States. People working in IDG’s PC World used to see Maximum PC as a major rival, particularly on the newsstand.
Macworld, its sister newspaper, was surely watching MacLife closely. Journalists who even switched their careers would occasionally check in on their former magazine rivals. They were amazed how these publications were still around after several other computer journals had vanished.
Should we lament the demise of paper-based computer publications? Well, the answer is both – yes and no. The material was created on dead trees and transported by lorry once a month. It did not make the computer magazine era so fantastic. In most ways, the web is a significantly greater way of informing people about how technology impacts their daily lives.
However, as timely and efficient as online media is as a means of communication. The computer publishing industry has yet to discover how to turn it into a business as vibrant as print. And those massive full-page ads were financed for some ambitious service journalism.
Excellent work is still being carried out in the online variations of previous print magazines. Moreover, its emerging sources have always been digital. We must still cover how today’s tech media encompasses written communication, video, audio, and community. And how an individual journalist may participate in the above without being hired by a large corporation.
Bottom line: If there were a magic switch that would allow us to return to 1995-era tech journalism, we would not flip it.
Navkiran Dhaliwal is a seasoned content writer with 10+ years of experience. When she's not writing, she can be found cooking up a storm or spending time with her dog, Rain.
