Techies gone wild.

I must admit that when I heard the news last month that Network Computing was ceasing its existence as a print publication, I was shocked. After all, this was the default magazine in this market when it came to advertising decisions. ("You can't go wrong advertising in Network Computing," I imagined marketers saying.) Reflecting on the recent past of Network Computing and its parent company, CMP Technology, however, this looks more like another error in judgment by our erstwhile competitor. Let me explain.

When I joined Communications News in 2000, CMP offered two similar magazines in this field--Network Computing and Network Magazine. Quite frankly, I did not see much difference between the two, except that the latter was more technical in nature. CMP subsequently rolled out several other niche publications, such as Optimize, which also got the ax last month. But the similar content and audiences of Network Computing and Network Magazine continued to gnaw at me.

Then, Network Magazine changed its name to IT Architect. Now, anyone in this business knows that when a magazine changes its name, it is in trouble. Sure enough, within a short time, IT Architect was shuttered, its editor was shuffled over to Network Computing, whose editor was moved to the top editorial position on Information Week, another CMP publication. Are you still following me?

It wasn't long before the tone and look of Network Computing began to resemble IT Architect/Network Magazine, a failed publication. This, too, should have been a red flag, but given all the resources seemingly at the disposal of CMP, no one could predict what took place last month.

In a nutshell, CMP decided in June to make Network Computing an online presence exclusively, not a magazine or an e-magazine, but a Web site for IT professionals. (Seems to me there are lots of these already out there in cyberspace.) CMP pronounced that the print content of Network Computing and Optimize will continue in Information Week in "special" demographic editions, but that is just a smokescreen designed to alleviate the backlash about dropping print that will be widespread among the 220,000 subscribers of Network Computing (not to mention the plethora of advertisers out there who understand the value of marketing in print AND online). This decision to retreat to online only should also serve as a red flag for marketers, as about half of the subscribers of Information Week are software developers/engineers--not the IT managers and C-level people generally defined as the buying decision makers.

While I fully understand all the hype about marketing online and I see all the growth trends, the truth is that far more people want to receive a print publication than read a magazine online. Just because those techies who can't live without their PDAs say the trend is to online only, does not make it so. After all, these are the same people who say everyone who is anyone carries a PDA around with them, yet the truth is that still only a small percentage of business people use the devices.

You have to be careful when someone who is passionate about something says that their passion is the future. Seen through someone else's prism, that passion may not be so important.

Communications News has been around for 43 years. We will be here for the long haul--in print and online. In fact, we are in the process of improving our online presence.

Lately, I've been working closely with the Web team here at Nelson Publishing, the parent company of Communications News, in redesigning and repurposing our Web site.

The new Communications News Web site will still offer to registered users the features and product information published in the print magazine, as well as our archives of material published in the past. Visitors will still be able to browse our Buyers' Guides, events calendar, daily news and other current features. The new site, however, will offer a host of interactive "products" for visitors, including video clips and technology-specific blogs, as well as an e-magazine (ugh!) that you can subscribe to rather than receive the print version of the magazine.

We're not the end-all experts on Web content, however, and encourage you, our readers, to suggest your ideas. Maybe you would like a "job bulletin board," links to other job-related sites or webcasts. Whatever. Send me an e-mail with your suggestions.

The new paradigm of journalism is not to abandon print, however, as Network Computing has done. Our audience and our advertisers have told us they want both, and we will continue to provide the choices they request. Some of you will want to get your information, your magazine, online. We will do that. Others (the vast majority according to our studies) will want a printed publication. We will continue to provide that. Like I said, we've been here for 43 years, and we're not going away.

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