I was walking past a news agents this morning and thought I would have a look at the computer magazines. Well I was not suprised to find Cobian, Truecrypt and Notepad++ accompanying the other software supplied on a magazine cover DVD.
It is true you can find free versions or limited featured older commercial software, with an upgrade option etc.
However Cobian, Truecrypt and Notepad++ are freely available to download off the internet. With broadband so readily available is there a requirement now for trials and free software accompanying magazine DVD’s?
I use a lot of open source software, so the free software supplied with the magazines doesn’t mean much to me now. I especially don’t need to wait a month to receive it.
I realise I now have less magazine CD’s than I used to. In the past I would have a whole collect of magazine floppy disks (5.25, then 3.5) or tapes and remember the first CD on a magazine many years ago in the UK. We’ve come a long way since then.
I remember waiting each month for my spectrum magazine or Atari magazine eager to try the latest game demo or the latest software tool for the ST.
I won’t try and predict what is going to happen, but for me buying computer magazines just isn’t the same anymore, due to open source and fantastic blogs.