Goodbye, Kind PC World
This is my 952nd Techlog post. It's also my last one--because today is my last day as editor in chief of PC World. As I blogged here three weeks ago, I'm stepping down from this wonderful job to try my hand at building a tech site from scratch.
I started at PC World in October of 1994. I was thrilled to get the job, but if you'd told me then I'd be here for thirteen and a half years and end up as editor in chief, I'd never have believed you.
Actually, I thought there was a strong chance the gig would only last a few months: I joined the staff as associate editor for a special version called PC World Lotus Edition, with extra pages on 1-2-3 and other Lotus products, and the editor who hired me cheerfully informed me that it was likely that Lotus Edition would be discontinued within a few months. But I figured that taking the job was a good way to get my foot in the door at PCW, and that even if Lotus Edition were to die, I'd have a chance at sticking around.
So what kept me here so long? Well, as I've often told folks, getting to play with technology products and write about them is more pleasure than work; I might have paid PCW for the privilege. PC World has changed so much, and so continuously, that I feel like it's been more like five or six years, tops--I never once got bored.
Most important, I've worked with an extraordinarily smart team of editors, Test Center analysts, designers, and other folks, who taught me far more than I taught them. And I've had the honor of doing my darndest to serve the millions of smart people who rely on PCW in print and online form every day.
When I started here in 1994, PCW had a thriving online presence--but it was in the form of areas on AOL, CompuServe, and other dial-up services. Our Web site came along a few months later, and was not exactly at the center of our world. After all, we were busy competing with an array of computer magazines--including titles such as Byte, PC Computing, and Windows Magazine.
It took awhile before it was clear that I'd be here during the most astonishing transformation that ever hit the media business. Most of our print competitors went away; thousands of new competitors sprung up online. We not only covered the Web revolution, but were profoundly impacted it.
And we did just fine. We went from being a thick magazine with a small Web site to a thinner magazine with a site that's bursting at the seams with content, features, and community. Today, we serve more people than at any time in our history, and the vast majority of them are PCWorld.com visitors, not magazine readers. It's been a thrill to be part of the team that ensured that PCW made that leap.
The best thing about PCW has always been the people I work with; the saddest thing by far has been losing some of them, including Rex Farrance and Uli Diehlmann. I have memories I'll keep with me for the rest of my life--here are a few of them, in no particular order:
* Getting to travel to Tokyo, Beijing, Athens, Munich, and a host of other interesting places as part of my work...and hanging out with the staff of local editions of PC World whenever possible.
* Collaborating with Dateline NBC, in its pre-"To Catch a Predator" days, on a cross-country hidden-camera project in which we investigated the quality of PC repair at major retailers.
* Accepting American Business Media's Grand Neal award on behalf of my colleagues in 2000 for a special issue we did on broadband access. (PC World has been honored with editorial awards many times, but that occasion sticks out in my mind as a delightful surprise.)
* Learning from multiple editorial mentors, including Cathy Baskin, Eric Bender, Steve Fox, Phil Lemmons, Kevin McKean, Randy Ross, and Dan Tynan; these are the people who taught me most of what I know about technology journalism.
* Getting to spend time with Pat McGovern, the visionary founder of PC World's parent, IDG; forty-four years into the history of the company, he's still the model of an enthusiastic, hard-working, and inventive IDG employee.
* Meeting PC World readers everywhere I go.
* Working on our coverage last year of the launch of the iPhone; we spent 24 straight hours on it, generated a ton of content (including an insanely popular video), and pulled out all the stops to prove we were an online operation rather than a monthly-magazine team.
* The ritual, whenever I happened across a newsstand, of stopping to make sure that it had copies of PC World--and, I confess, sometimes moving the issues to the front if they were hidden.
* Working in San Francisco's South of Market area, where PCW has been for 21 years, and watching the rise and fall of multiple generations of tech companies in the neighborhood (not to mention the construction of one of the country's best ballparks three blocks from our office).
* Surviving the strange events of last year that involved me resigning and returning in the space of a week--then getting to spend one last year doing work I loved.
* Getting to cover the ongoing digital revolution from the thick of things--when I started at PCW, there was no such thing as Google, a PalmPilot or BlackBerry, Wi-Fi, Netscape Navigator, or DVD.
* Oh, and writing this blog.
In short, there's no place I'd rather have spent the past thirteen and a half years.
I'm delighted that it's possible to leave PC World without completely leaving PC World behind: As of tomorrow, I'm a contributing editor, and you'll see my byline here from time to time when I'm not cranking on my new site. Meanwhile, my talented, passionate colleagues will be working hardto bring you a PCW that's every bit as useful and trustworthy as ever.
It'll be odd for me to hit the PCWorld.com home page or see an issue at the newsstand and see content I had nothing to do with--but I'll be proud of PCW and the people behind it forever.
Wanna reach me from here on out? Mail sent to harry_mccracken@pcworld.com will still wend its way to me for at least awhile, but hm@harrymccracken.com will also work.
Thanks for everything, and I'll see you soon...
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Thank you for the WONDERFUL job you did leading PCW over the past thirteen years!!! All the best to you with your new Career. Thanks again! Looking forward to more of your articles.
Sob.
Good luck! I'll be looking for your site...SURELY PCW will give you a free ad shot! ;- )
You did good! Thank you and good luck.
Thank you, Harry, for your stewardship of the pub all these years. It's been good working with you.
You mentioned some of our mutual friends and colleagues who passed over the years. I wanted to remind you of another -- Luis Camus, who was the managing editor when I joined the editorial staff in 1997. I didn't know Luis very well, but he made a significant impact on everyone around him on both a personal and professional level.
--Andrew Brandt
Our first day today without Harry. We survived but it wasn't as much fun!
Your blog made me cry. Sounds like you had an amazing ride. <3
Thank you for your years of dedicated service and profound contribution to PCW. I appreciate your steady hand steering the ship, and am sure you're leaving it in good hands, and much better than you found it when you started in your role. I look forward to seeing your regular contributions. Good luck in all endeavors.
The first comment says it all. Thanyou. Thank you for filling my void when Windows Mag was so shoddily and uncaringly put to death. Then I found PCW. Another very ethical, truly journalistic mag which, in decade plus I've been a suscriber, has never steered me wrong, published with a hidden bias &/or agenda. Moreover, it never faiiled to ring straight and true; yet always with a twinkle of humor sprinled throughout its pages.
Thankyou too for a pretty decent website that has served as My Home Page ( no wonder I get so little work done when my pc finally comes to life each day) for many yearsnow, as well. But it's the arrival of the collection of printed pages known as PC World that I most look forward too. Why, many reasons the physical item far outweighs the virtual,for me. In fact, mayb it has to do with Stephen Manes piece, "The Last Manual You'll ever Need", that still hangs on my den's wall.
Thank you for a wonderful magazine, Mr. McCraken. All the best.
You did an awesome job. Thank you and I wish you good luck.
I always did want to ask you where you got your name from, and what did you do before you came to PCW. lol. Good luck Harry.
so what will it take to convince you to come back? what if every reader chipped in $1? 7 million unique visitors a month buys a lot of weird watches and old comic books.
seriously, it's been a kick working with you over the years and watching your career develop. you've been a great steward of the pc world tradition; the magazine and the site would not be the same without you.
and for anyone else reading this, Harry's new site is at www.technologizer.com, though it's not officially launched yet. finally we'll get a tech blogger who actually knows what he's talking about. michael arrington and robert scoble, your days are numbered.
dt
so what will it take to convince you to come back? what if every reader chipped in $1? 7 million unique visitors a month buys a lot of weird watches and old comic books.
seriously, it's been a kick working with you over the years and watching your career develop. you've been a great steward of the pc world tradition; the magazine and the site would not be the same without you.
and for anyone else reading this, Harry's new site is technologizer (dot) com, though it's not officially launched yet. finally we'll get a tech blogger who actually knows what he's talking about. michael arrington and robert scoble, your days are numbered.
dt
Thank you for a greaqt ride. But, there's one thing you left out. Zinio!
Making PCW available in a fully digital form has hooked me for good. If someone didn't thank you for that--Please let me.