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Good morning,<br>
<br>
I just wanted to quickly comment on the magazine part of<br>
the discussion. I have written for Linux magazines both<br>
in print and the web. The US environment for these is pretty<br>
harsh. Many of the magazines have faced some hard times<br>
because advertisers aren't spending money any more because<br>
they don't see the impact of sales due to the advertising.<br>
The marketing arms of these companies are being pushed<br>
to tie sales to marketing $$ and they need to be somehow<br>
measured. So magazines started to rely on subscriptions so<br>
prices have gone up.<br>
<br>
It's a tough environment right now. The European publishers<br>
have some interesting approaches to surviving but a reasonable<br>
size chunk of their income is subscription based. I'm writing<br>
for one of them now and their strategy, from what I can tell,<br>
follows this.<br>
<br>
I've ridden 2 print magazines into oblivion and things have<br>
really changed in the last 6 years. I really miss seeing lots<br>
magazines around Linux and computing in the airports. But<br>
I try to buy Linux magazines when I can to support them :)<br>
<br>
Enjoy!<br>
<br>
Jeff<br>
<br>
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Hi Rich,<br>
<br>
I know what you're saying about the magazines. Actually, I'd like
both Linux Format and Linux User and Developer. However, $200 /
year is a LOT of $$. It's a shame that the US publishers have
essentially abandoned this market and all that's available for the
most part is the nice but expensive European publications.<br>
<br>
Regarding the tablet, I find mine tremendously handy. I take it
everywhere. It has a 10" screen. Having said that, it's really
good for reading ebooks which can reflow the text. Reading PDF's
in landscape mode is OK when you scroll up and down the page.
Reading PDF's in portrait mode without zooming strains my eyes. A
magazine as large as the ones we're discussing wouldn't work well
on this screen unless the file can reflow the text and images for
this screen. I don't know if they do that or not. The tablet works
well for audio bible, audio podcasts, and audio books. Having the
big screen (relative to an mp3 player or phone) is helpful to
control and access the content.<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
Ron<br>
<br>
<br>
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