Presenting 20 Firsts from PCQUEST

1987: India's first technology magazine, PCQuest, is launched as PC World

India

That's right, when PCQuest was first launched, it was called PC World India,

with the name being licensed from the international PCWorld magazine. The actual

name PC Quest came into being two years later. Earlier there was a space between

PC and Quest, which was removed later. Even the logo was different

PCQuest Online BBS



Before Internet came to the country, technology enthusiasts and IT users

used something called a Bulletin Board System (BBS for short) to interact with

each other, share information, answer technical queries, debate over things,

etc. PCQuest became the first Indian magazine to launch a BBS, called PCQuest

Online. It ran on a 386 machine with a modem, and was first setup into the then

editor, Prasanto Kumar Roy's home. Later, it was brought into the PCQuest

office. Users would use their machines to dial into the BBS and exchange

information.

PCQuest distributes CDs with every copy



In August 1995, PCQuest came out with its 100th issue, and to commemorate

the occasion, distributed a free CD with it. This trend had a significant impact

on the sales of CD-ROM drives in the country, and in a way helped bring the CD

revolution to the country. The first CD itself contained IBM's OS/2 Warp OS,

Lotus Notes, Vn'gineer, PC DOS 7, and lots of demos from leading software giants

like Microsoft, Novell, Aptech, SCO, Ramco, Tata Unisys, Wipro, and Aztech Labs,

among others. Incidentally, the CDs became so popular that they were sold in

black in the market.

First magazine globally to distributePC DOS 7



On the first CD that PCQuest gave out, it distributed the then very popular

Operating System for IBM PCs-PC DOS version 7.

PCQ Labs



PCQuest was the first Indian magazine to have setup its own independent test lab
facility. Called PCQ Labs then, the facility helped PCQuest become a credible

authority for product purchase decision making. Today, the entity is called

CyberMedia Labs, and caters to other publications of the group as well.

DVDs with every copy



When even multiple CDs became insufficient, PCQuest moved to DVDs. The first

DVD was called DVDXtreme, and like the CD, helped significantly ramp up DVD

drive sales in the country.

Dual layer DVDs with every copy



Again, as software grew larger, and users found it difficult to download

from the Internet, PCQuest started distributing dual-layer DVDs, which could

hold 8.4 GB of data. Today, every copy of PCQuest ships with a CD and a

dual-layer DVD.

India's first multi-boot DVD for penetration testing



This was a boon for all security professionals, because it contained five

live Linux distributions having the best collection of security tools. Moreover,

the DVD was configured as multi-boot, meaning you just had to insert it into

your system and boot from it. A multi-boot menu would pop up from where you

could select the Live Linux distro to boot into. The five distros were ChaOS,

PHLAK, Whoppix, Auditor and L.A.S.

Enterprise class product shootouts



While most other test labs in the country were busy doing comparatives of

PC-based products and peripherals, PCQuest moved to testing enterprise class

products like hardware servers, tape drives, NAS boxes, firewalls, UTM devices,

and even software products like enterprise class anti-virus software, etc.

Creates its own videos for distribution with its DVDs



We caught all the excitement from labs, created a video out of it and gave

it on our DVDs. Initially called QTv, and later TechLive, this video comprised

of a variety of useful videos. We've given a collection of the 20 best videos

from TechLive on this month's DVD.

Institutes the Best IT Implementation Awards



Launched four years ago, PCQuest introduced the Best IT Implementation

Awards as a mechanism to recognize and honor all the good work going on inside

IT projects in the country. The latest issue of Best IT Implementations carried

more than 250 IT projects.

Distributes a Linux distro



The first distro to be given by PCQuest was not its own. It was Slackware

Linux, and PCQuest was the first Indian magazine to carry a Live Linux distro

with every copy.

Distributes PCQ Linux with every copy



One of the most revolutionary moves to be carried out by PCQuest was to

bring out its own Linux distro. Called PCQ Linux, the distro became so popular

that at one time, there was shortage in the market, and it was selling in black

for 400 bucks at eBay!

Sets up its own High Performance Cluster



One of the greatest technical feats to be achieved by any IT magazine,

especially in India was to setup its own HPC, and PCQuest was the first magazine

to do it out of 20 ordinary P4 based machines connected over a Gigabit Ethernet

network.

Enterprise Solutions Showcase-An event to showcase IT solutions in action

to the CIO community



This was the first event ever in India that showcased IT solutions in action

to the audience. So there were no small 3x3 stalls-just enough space for

everybody to setup their IT solutions and show them to their customers.

The SMB Handbook



As the SMB market grew hot, PCQuest started a separate quarterly magazine

just for them, and sent it out free of cost.

Online ePaper version of SMB Hand book



After the success of the SMB Handbook, PCQuest took the same thing online,

so that it could reach out to more SMBs.

Online forum



Need we say more? We've been running it successfully for more than 3 years

now!

Reader Query Service and PIMS



This allowed readers to send back a post-paid post RQS card, asking for more

information about a particular product carried in the magazine. Each reviewed

product had a unique RQS Code. This was later converted into an SMS service,

also called PIMS or PCQuest Instant Messaging Service. Now users can get

information about specific products via SMS also.

Users' Choice and Most Wanted IT Brands



Users' Choice Awards was the only survey in the country that captured the brand
preferences of key IT purchase decision makers across the country. We later

converted it into Most Wanted IT brands, which did a more thorough analysis of

IT brands and their movement.