http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/farewell-dr-dobbs/240169421
It seems that 90′s magazines I had read to learn computer programming and embedded development are dying one after another.Very important magazines for me has been Prosessori and Dr. Dobb’s. Few years ago Finnish hardware and computer magazine Prosessori came to end. Dr. Dobb’s subsequent popularity meant that it became a worldwide means of sharing curated, high-quality programming info. Now after 38 years of glory, the long run of Dr. Dobb’s has come to an end.
The reason for this seems the same problem that many media companies nowadays have: In one word, revenue. Once Dr. Dobb’s, had healthy profits and revenue, almost all of it from advertising, and now revenue declined such that today it’s barely 30% of what it was. It is not only a print problem, also web sites suffer when realize that website ads tend to be less effective than they once were. This is not a Dr. Dobb’s-only phenomenon. So the decided to sunset the site before it looses money. “Sunset” means that that there will be no new content after year end; however, all current content will be accessible and links to existing Dr. Dobb’s articles will continue to work correctly.
2 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dr. Dobb’s 38-Year Run Comes To an End
http://developers.slashdot.org/story/14/12/16/2048216/dr-dobbs-38-year-run-comes-to-an-end
Dr. Dobb’s — long time icon of programming magazines — “sunsets” at the end of the year. Editor Andrew Binstock says despite growing traffic numbers, the decline in revenue from ads means there will be no new content posted after 2014 ends. (The site will stay up for at least a year, hopefully longer.)
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dr. Dobb’s Journal sails into the sunset – yet again
Specialist programming site will post no new content
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/17/dr_dobbs_journal_sails_into_the_sunset/
Programming journal and website Dr. Dobb’s is ceasing publication of new content at the end of 2014.
Editor Andrew Binstock explains the decision by owners United Business Media to “sunset” the site, though all existing content will remain available.
Dr. Dobb’s Journal began as a newsletter published by Bob Albrecht and Dennis Allison in Menlo Park, California. It was devoted to Allison’s programming language Tiny BASIC. Its first issue in January 1976 was called Tiny BASIC Calisthenics and Orthodontia
The magazine grew to become a programming journal with a strong reputation and global readership. In the nineties it was a fat print publication stuffed with detailed articles on subjects including programming languages, techniques and algorithms, operating system internals, developer tools. Contributors included Allen Holub, Andrew Koenig, Herb Sutter, Scott Ambler, and the Reg’s own Verity Stob. It was also full of ads, but the rise of the internet meant that the attention of both developers and advertisers turned elsewhere and the last print edition was dated February 2009.
“R.I.P. Dr. Dobb’s” said contributor Eric Sink at the time; but Dr. Dobb’s became a successful web publication, and according to Binstock its readership has been growing, with a record 10.3 million page views in 2014.