More Hassle Than Help
A reader details the changes he would like to see in the magazine now that VSM is under new ownership.
On Visual Studio Magazine 2.0
Patrick Meader expressed considerable optimism about the future direction of the magazine in his editor's note announcing the recent purchase of the magazine by 1105 Media [Editor's Note, "Visual Studio Magazine 2.0," VSM February 2007].
VSM is one of my favorite magazines, and I have every reason to believe that will continue be the case. I look forward to seeing some of the changes he discusses in his announcement of the purchase put into action.
But this also seems as good a time as any to offer my own suggestions for what I'd like to see in the magazine. I imagine you are reassessing many aspects of the magazine, and this would be the ideal time for me (and other readers) to chime in.
First, I want to see more, more, more! I'm a realist. I know these aren't "the good old days." But three how-to articles per issue aren't enough. As Patrick noted in his editorial, how-to articles are the heart of the magazine, so it's a shame that recent issues have featured only three articles per issue or so. With so few articles per issue, there's a good chance that you just won't hit on an article topic that I care about.
Second, I'd like to see you place a renewed emphasis on providing how-to articles that cover what developers do every day. WPF is nice, but it isn't real-world development—not for me, not yet. For now, it's Windows Forms for me and my fellow developers, and I think there remains a lot to say about this technology.
Third, I'd like to see more tips and tricks in the magazine. For example, I miss the old 101 Tips supplements the magazine used to do. Is there any chance of bringing back this special section? All by itself, I felt this supplement was worth the price of my subscription, and there are so many things you can do with .NET that I think starting these up again would be an invaluable resource.
Fourth, please, please, please deliver the magazine on a monthly basis. I recently went several months without receiving any issues of the magazine, only to receive a spate of them all at once. It's one thing to hope for more articles per issue, but another altogether to not receive the magazines on a regular basis.
Thank you for listening.
Kevin Howard
received by e-mail
Correction
VSM inadvertently ran an out-of-date biography for Tim Patrick's article, Master OOP Fundamentals [Getting Started, VSM January 2007]. VSM regrets the error. Here is the correct bio that should have run with his article:
Tim Patrick is a Microsoft Windows software developer, and the author of several books and articles. He has nearly 25 years of programming and software architecture experience, and is a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer. He earned his computer science degree from Seattle Pacific University. To contact Tim Patrick, e-mail him at [email protected]. Find out about other books Tim has written at www.timaki.com/books.htm.