Reply to: Nobody mourning Computer Weekly?

[Scrag Meister]

Mmm CW hay day, 75% jobs, 15% ads, 10% news.

They didn't stop until I moved home.

But the 80 year old Granny who bought your house died because she got blocked in by a mountain of CW and died from starvation, cos she couldn't get to the shops.

[Sysman]

All I remember of all these types of Mags (CW, FI, Computing and several others) is that once you got on the mailing list you could never get off of it.

What I remember is that they were most insistent that they sent it to your work address, not your home address. This was based on some statistic they had conjured up that every copy delivered to work was read by n people.

That didn't work in one antisocial place I worked at. My theory was that they were so desperate to escape that they didn't want anyone else to see adverts for jobs they were interested in.

So I managed to get them sent to my home address by explaining I spent most of my time at clients (true).

Big mistake. I couldn't stop them coming and would get home at a weekend to a hallway full of the buggers.

Mostly wet, because the postman wouldn't shove them all the way through the letterbox.

They didn't stop until I moved home.

[Wodewick]

All I remember of all these types of Mags (CW, FI, Computing and several others) is that once you got on the mailing list you could never get off of it.

It seemed every few months a "Re-register or we will stop sending" form came inside the packaging and for every one you filled in it meant you got another copy for a few more months, and you never dare not fill it in just in case they did stop sending them - and then you would be a "Just a user" rather than a "Computer Bod".

Plus I think most of the shows/seminars had freebies that you could only get if you filled in a registration form for yet another copy.

[Sysman]

Much like Electronics Weekly. Which had 24 pages & 3 job ads.

The writing's on the wall for that as well.

I remember coming across a stack of one old computer magazine (the name which escapes me at the moment) in the mid-nineties. In the eighties it was a must read for the technical articles it contained. As I worked my way through the stack, I could see the progress of its demise in front of me. The most recent copies even had blank bits where the adverts should have gone.

[Sysman]

Wasn't Computer Weekly just a plug for company news and product releases?

I don't remember a time when it wasn't deathly boring, except on very rare occasions when some article was about a company or person one knew.

I seem to remember it as very establishment, all mainframes and COBOL.

[OwlHoot]

Wasn't Computer Weekly just a plug for company news and product releases?

I don't remember a time when it wasn't deathly boring, except on very rare occasions when some article was about a company or person one knew.

[stek]

Freelance Informer.

Now they were the good ol' days!

I remember that!

The Pringle Eating contest, the 'who's got the oldest item of fruit in their drawer' contest, and I remember then, must have been 2000 ish, the highest paid contractor stakes, won by some guy working in pre-EU Poland on £13,000 a week, never forgot that last one, I'm still nowhere near.

Going back to Pringle Eating, the rule was to grab as many as you felt able, stacked as per tube, and attempt to crunch and devour them. Too many and you can't get the jaw leverage to crunch them. Also Salt and Vinegar were the worst, they dried your mouth out summert rotten.

I did 13, one lad down the corridor did 17 but nearly died in the process....

[moorfield]

THe good old days I suppose, 11 inch monitors, making a living off 2 digit years, ripping off the cellophane on CW, software seems to be very dull these days.

Freelance Informer.

Now they were the good ol' days!

[minestrone]

No internet access Build scripts

I'm sure I was happier then ...

THe good old days I suppose, 11 inch monitors, making a living off 2 digit years, ripping off the cellophane on CW, software seems to be very dull these days.

[Zippy]

It was never really relevant to me or the general industry and I think the bored the tits out of the readership over this crash, same with the air traffic control software

But yes I do agree that it was a good read back in the old days even if it was just to take you away from writing dull code for firms that never allowed Internet access last century and had 30 minute build file scripts you had to look busy watching.

No internet access Build scripts

I'm sure I was happier then ...

[minestrone]

It was never really relevant to me or the general industry and I think the bored the tits out of the readership over this crash, same with the air traffic control software

But yes I do agree that it was a good read back in the old days even if it was just to take you away from writing dull code for firms that never allowed Internet access last century and had 30 minute build file scripts you had to look busy watching.

[Zippy]

Just googled "computer weekly chinook" and they have a good few articles on the crash last year...

Chinook computer was 'positively dangerous' say newly-disclosed MoD documents - 1/4/2010 - Computer Weekly

Not much different to what they were writing about in 1999...

BBC News | UK | Magazine disputes Chinook tragedy cause

...on a bit of software written in the 80s.

They had some interesting points to make re: the Chinook crash and it generated a debate, at least. I do ragard the mag as part of my happier, naive youth though and that is sad.

[minestrone]

Just googled "computer weekly chinook" and they have a good few articles on the crash last year...

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articl...closed-MoD.htm

Not much different to what they were writing about in 1999...

BBC News | UK | Magazine disputes Chinook tragedy cause

...on a bit of software written in the 80s.

[minestrone]

Aarrrgghhh. I have to agree with Minestrone.I remember there was a brief period where it contained interesting and relevant articles but it ceased to be relevant a long time ago. It seemed to become a mouthpiece for the BCS (which, I will confess, I belonged to for a long time) and the established order. Bad for a fast moving industry.

I recall reading someone from the BCS saying in CW a computer programmer was the industry equivalent of a bricklayer which I was going to mention in that post.

THey did have a mild attempt at looking into goverment IT projects about 8 years ago but spent 5 times as much time typing on the chinook crash on the mull which never made any sense to me as they did not 'want to blame the programmer' but filled up dozens of front pages with 'it was an computer fault' headlines.

I think I ditched it about 2003, maybe, after weeks of pointless rants about the airspace software management software bugs "they just wrote a wrapper round the old code" and dull articles about Oracle launches.

[Zippy]

So long CW, I enjoyed your poorly researched articles and will miss you like I miss the BBC test page which I do not miss that much really.

Aarrrgghhh. I have to agree with Minestrone.I remember there was a brief period where it contained interesting and relevant articles but it ceased to be relevant a long time ago. It seemed to become a mouthpiece for the BCS (which, I will confess, I belonged to for a long time) and the established order. Bad for a fast moving industry.

RIP anyway. Gone, but we are not.