I would be interested to see if other IDG publications are doing the same thing...
LinuxWorld?
ComputerWorld?
Network(ing)World?
I'll bet that since ad revenues are down, so are funds to pay writers. Can the complete collapse of IDG be far behind? Also, IDG was slower to get into the "new media" than Ziff Davis, and I'll bet it hurt them bad.
Same thing happened to newspapers when the Internet debutted in 1995. Many were "slow" to get in on the Internet and it cost them. Some still haven't recovered.
If you're a packrat, go pick up a 1999 Infoworld and compare them. No comparison. This rag used to be 150+ pages on a good week. Now they're lucky to get 50-70 pages.
I don't want slick press releases, I want someone to tell me if a new technology is BS or not. I want someone to tell me who's using the new tech, and if they're having problems. I want someone to "call it" on the technology, based on market conditions.
It sounds like the suits have won at IDG, so it's time to find all these fine author's Blogs, and get into newsgroups and find ways to connect these authors back together without a "formal" corporate structure like IDG.
Finally, it will probably be very refreshing to hear some of these authors "unchained", so they can tell the truth, not what IDG wants them to say.
Glen Austin