Winds of Change

You would no doubt have noticed that PCQuest is looking a bit different this month. Let me explain what these changes are, and what they will mean for you. But, like I am usually wont to, let me explain the background first.

The last two years have been bad for almost everybody associated with IT. They have been no different for Indian IT magazines. At last count, more than a dozen and a half had closed down. PCQuest has not only survived intact, but has actually slightly during the period. But we have had to put many plans on the back burner, cut our costs and generally not do many the things we wanted to do.

The economy in general and the tech economy in particular are slowly coming out of the slump. (I am writing this piece just twelve hours after George Bush ordered his troops to move in to Iraq. So, these are early days yet and the wind could turn either way. We are keeping our fingers crossed.)

As the tech economy revives, the demand from our readers for content is also on the upswing. This demand is across a wide spectrum. There are those who need pure tech, and there are those who need the overview. There are those whose need is limited to the PC and there are those whose need spans large networks. Accommodating all these in similarly designed pages in the magazine would could leave most of you feeling cheated. That is why we have taken the radical step of adding three different extensions and an extra CD to the magazine.

The second CD, PCQXtreme, will carry large software that we were otherwise constrained from carrying. These will range from full games and developer tools all the way to full OSs (yes, more frequent Linux and QNX included) and network- software.

PCQuest Insight will take up one topic at a time, and provide an implementation overview, both from technology and operations angles. 

If Insight is about implementation, PCQuest Buzz is about pure technology. It will cover technologies that are top of thecharts during the month, explaining what they are, who they are for and when they can be expected in the form of products in the market.

ExtraEdge will satisfy three needs. First, as the pace of new product launches pick up, it will carry this information and where you can buy them. ExtraEdge will carry more of the help requests we get and their answers. It will also cover many utilities on the PCQEssential CD.

These will leave the main PCQuest magazine free to concentrate on more core technologies, more product reviews and more implementation stories.

Having got the first copies out to you, we will tweak them in the coming months. And for that we need your feedback on what you like about them and what you do not. 

Meanwhile, this not all that we have planned for this year. There is more in the offing. The next big one will be with the June issue. What will that be? I would rather keep that as a big surprise. Wait and watch. It will be worth the surprise.

Krishna Kumar