Frequently Asked Questions

On Wednesday, May 27, CMP Media announced a large number of layoffs within the group, effective May 29. BYTE was hit hardest, but LAN Times also lost many employees. All editorial activity at BYTE ceased on May 27. The last issue shipped to the printer was the July 1998 issue.

On October 13, 1998, CMP announced the shutdown of LAN Times. Most employees were laid off, including one person who was hired only a week before. In 1999, CMP also shut down Data Communications, laying off nearly all its employees. Little more than a year after paying McGraw-Hill $28.6 million for the magazine group, CMP had folded three of the four magazines it acquired.

Note that BYTE's circulation of about 500,000 was only for the English-language North America and International editions. That figure did not include the 20 foreign-language editions of BYTE published under license around the world. Some of those magazines (such as Nikkei BYTE in Japan) survived for a while after BYTE folded. Unfortunately, most licensees, such as BYTE Germany, died shortly after their prime source of content (BYTE USA) dried up. CMP's decision to fold BYTE Magazine caught these foreign-language editions completely by surprise.

From its start in 1975, BYTE was a technology-oriented multiplatform magazine. BYTE adhered to that formula for 23 years. But that's exactly the opposite of almost all other computer magazines, which are product-oriented and platform-specific. Most computer magazines will not cover any platform besides "Wintel" (Microsoft Windows on Intel x86), and they will not cover new technology until it's packaged as a product for sale in stores. BYTE's approach was very different.

Users of PC compatibles might still be fumbling with command-line user interfaces if the Macintosh had not made graphical user interfaces popular in the 1980s. When Commodore introduced the Amiga in 1985, PC Magazine heaped scorn on what was actually the first true multimedia computer. The reviewer smugly dismissed the Amiga as a toylike "game machine" because of its sophisticated color graphics and stereo sound. Today, of course, virtually all PCs have sophisticated color graphics and stereo sound, and games are the most popular software products sold for PCs.

All significant new technologies introduced for personal computers appeared on alternative platforms before they became popular on the dominant platforms. Since 1975, BYTE covered every kind of personal-computer platform: CP/M, Apple II, Atari, Commodore PET, Amiga, MS-DOS, Macintosh, OS/2, UNIX, and many more. BYTE also covered emerging platforms, such as Linux, BeOS, Java, and network computers ("thin clients"). Most computer magazines won't cover alternative platforms—or, if they mention different platforms at all, hold them up to ridicule.

BYTE never attempted to be the kind of magazine that would appeal to everyone. BYTE readers were information-technology managers, engineers, programmers, college students, and others who are interested in computer technology. Many people within the computer industry read BYTE to keep abreast of new and emerging technologies. BYTE was not very relevant to the average PC user, any more than Popular Mechanics is relevant to the average car owner.

For the December 1997 issue of BYTE, I wrote a detailed article on Intel's IA-64 (Itanium) architecture, followed by another article in the June 1998 issue. Other magazines didn't run comparable articles for years.

Today, nearly 13 years after BYTE folded, there is a greater understanding among computer-industry editors that some readers need or want deeper technology coverage. It's now common for some computer magazines and websites to cover microprocessors in the kind of detail that BYTE once provided.

In later years, some devotees of alternative platforms complained about the large amount of Wintel coverage in BYTE. But the percentage of coverage devoted to alternative platforms greatly exceeded those platforms' actual market shares, and few other publications covered those platforms at all. BYTE's technical coverage of the Macintosh matched or exceeded the quality of coverage in the Macintosh-specific magazines.

I'll always miss BYTE Magazine, though—and especially my colleagues at the magazine. They were among the most technically competent, ethical, and helpful writers and editors in the computer industry.