Hello Disruption, Goodbye Infoworld!

 

After 29 years, InfoWorld is giving up it's print edition and going to a web-only publication model.  It's hard to believe it's been around that long.  I remember reading InfoWorld when I was in University back in the early 1980s.  Back then, the only way to know what was new in technology was through magazines like InfoWorld, ComputerWorld, PC Week, PC Magazine et al.  Over the years, InfoWorld has had some of the greatest writers and editorial staff in the industry.  And they were able to morph on occasion from tabloid to glossy magazine (and back) a couple of times, adding new columnists to focus on new techologies to stay current.  But it's been apparent for a while that InfoWorld's print edition was becoming less and less significant.  Once it got down to 44 pages or less (that's thinner than Mad Magazine), it was clear something had to give. 

I guess it shows what happens when a business is disrupted by a tidal wave like the web.  At some point, the old model simply doesn't work.  And what's true for InfoWorld is no doubt true for other publications that have already migrated to web-only or will likely need to do so in the near future.  Life Magazine, Intelligent Enterprise and others have also abandoned their print versions.  As Pat McGovern of IDG reported last summer "Print publications are an ancillary business for us."

I hope InfoWorld will be able to invest in hiring back some of the top notch reporters and editorial staff and become as innovative on the web as they were in print.

• InfoWorld: Folds Print Magazine to Focus on Online and Events 
• SF Gate: Retooling the Media