Elektor Electronics new website

[Kryten]

I think its devolved to the point where -- even with advertising --
technical magazines have small enough circulation that they can't afford
to pay writers for the actual time required to create a good article.
Although perhaps 'devolved' is the wrong term here -- what sort of rates
did the likes of Radio Electronics pay say, 20 years ago?

If your market has collapsed so far you have to rely on charity, it's time
to find another market.

Electronics is so wide a field that any article will only appeal to a narrow
slice.

It's like the field of medicine. You have specialists in many different
fields, like neuroscience and proctology.

Although it's not quite the same thing, keep in mind that for
'professional' journals (e.g., IEEE), it's still considered an honour to
have a paper accepted and the _author_ pays if they get too wordy (or want
colour photos)!

I agree that getting an article into some journals (like Nature), there are
rewards that are non-cash.

Linux is a great example of people doing things for free that one would
typically expect to be well paid for.

I think people support Linux because they're fed up of making the obscenely
wealthy Bill Gates richer every time they pay for software that is buggy and
insecure and that they cannot examine and modify.

It's not like Torvalds is asking people to write software for his company
because he won't pay a market rate.

Hopefully the same will continue to apply to authors for electronics
magazines.

Commercial electronics is not the same environment as academia.
Employers want to see what you have worked on, not articles you have
written.
There is no significant non-cash reward, so writers are just contributing to
the salaries of the magazine staff.

 

[Rich The Newsgropup Wacko]

It's like the field of medicine. You have specialists in many different
fields, like neuroscience and proctology.

Well, be careful you don't confuse your optic nerve with your anal
sphincter, or you might get a shitty outlook on life.

Sorry,
Rich

 

[john jardine]

I spoke to the editor of EW today, about the possibility of writing some
articles.

I ventured my opinions about how the content had declined from stuff people
could actually apply (radio and audio amplifier circuits) to tenuous
abstract blather. The death of J.L. Hood probably killed off a lot of the
audio engineer readership. Last time I looked there was some lengthy article
about magnetoaetheric tunnels and I just thought "what on earth is this
mumbo jumbo about, and who the heck would pay to read this?"

If asked "Are you going to take out a subscription?"
I'd say "No, I'll read it at the library for what little relevant stuff it
has"

The editor (Svetlana Josifovska) asked me if I'd read it recently, because
it has changed since she took over around Christmas. She is from an
engineering background, so she prefers to read about practical engineering
too.

I get the feeling she doesn't think much of the scribblings of Catt et al,
so hopefully we'll be seeing a lot less of them. I'd prefer none at all! ;-)

I think we'll have to check it out on the news stands,
to see if it has become a bit meatier...

I've never done it before but threw Februarys issue in the bin . Had hoped
the exotically named Svetlana would be offering a similar vision for the
mag'.
Not so, (fishing mag out of rubbish) ...

Potentia. "Digital tool warns against sytem power failure"
Multiband OFDM Alliance. PHY 1.0 spec.
Medea+. MPUs fall foul of Moores Law.
Medea+. "European R+D.
Medea+. EU R+D cooperation.
Altium. Easy 32 bit processor for FPGA.
DiBcom. DVB-H mobile TV Silicon ***
Peregrine Semicon. Silcon on Sapphire.
PICMG (PCI) group. Advanced TCA compliant products.
ARC International. New 'platforms'.
Biotech wetware.
Future Electronics. ADCs (trivia).
Lattice semicon. FPGA digital screens.
LPRA. Patient care.

*** Most TLAs ever gathered in one place.

These and other paid for advertising 'puffs', made up most of what's now
become a trade mag'. The 'articles' were the usual, moronic, unreadable BS
written by marketing people. Svetlana's taken the advertising shilling yet
has the cheek to try and charge me £3.25.
I'll give her a couple more issues before I cancel the magazine.
regards
john

 

[Kryten]

I've never done it before but threw February's issue in the bin . Had
hoped
the exotically named Svetlana would be offering a similar vision for the
mag'.
Not so, (fishing mag out of rubbish) ...

Potentia. "Digital tool warns against system power failure"
Multiband OFDM Alliance. PHY 1.0 spec.
Medea+. MPUs fall foul of Moores Law.
Medea+. "European R+D.
Medea+. EU R+D cooperation.
Altium. Easy 32 bit processor for FPGA.
DiBcom. DVB-H mobile TV Silicon ***
Peregrine Semicon. Silicon on Sapphire.
PICMG (PCI) group. Advanced TCA compliant products.
ARC International. New 'platforms'.
Biotech wetware.
Future Electronics. ADCs (trivia).
Lattice semicon. FPGA digital screens.
LPRA. Patient care.

*** Most TLAs ever gathered in one place.

These and other paid for advertising 'puffs', made up most of what's now
become a trade mag'. The 'articles' were the usual, moronic, unreadable BS
written by marketing people. Svetlana's taken the advertising shilling yet
has the cheek to try and charge me £3.25.
I'll give her a couple more issues before I cancel the magazine.

Yes, these titles do sound like industrial press releases (which can be read
for free in the trade mags).

Mind you, I don't envy her position.

The readers are dwindling because there are fewer people interested in stuff
like amateur radio or making hi-fi. Professional outfits have got the
resources to develop sophisticated products.

The writers are dwindling because fewer of them have the time or inclination
to write for a pittance. After Hood died, there was only the lunatic fringe
left.

In the days when a radio was something you could make yourself, you could
fit an interesting article into a couple of pages and a circuit diagram.

These days you need reams of source code and a very long explanation!

On top of that, if anyone has a project they think others might be
interested in, they can publish it on the web themselves.

I think we need to write a list of what we want to read, then wonder who is
going to write it.

K.

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

Well, be careful you don't confuse your optic nerve with your anal
sphincter, or you might get a shitty outlook on life.

Sorry,
Rich

Heh-heh! Touche'!

 

[Fred Abse]

Linux is a great example of people doing things for free that one would
typically expect to be well paid for.

These days, a lot of open-source developers are sponsored by the various
distributions. probably not "well paid", but paid nevertheless.

 

[Winfield Hill]

Fred Abse wrote...

These days, a lot of open-source developers are sponsored by the various
distributions. probably not "well paid", but paid nevertheless.

It's a myth that Linux comes primarily from unpaid programmers.

At LinuxWorld Thursday I met many Linux programmers who earn
good salaries to make their contributions to free software.

Companies like IBM, Sun, Novell, Red Hat, HP, Intel, and CA, to
mention a few, have large staffs of free-software programmers.
There are many other places with small, but important software
engineering contributors. We even have one at the Institute.

 

[Winfield Hill]

Winfield Hill wrote...

Fred Abse wrote...

It's a myth that Linux comes primarily from unpaid programmers.

At LinuxWorld Thursday I met many Linux programmers who earn
good salaries to make their contributions to free software.

Companies like IBM, Sun, Novell, Red Hat, HP, Intel, and CA, to
mention a few, have large staffs of free-software programmers.
There are many other places with small, but important software
engineering contributors. We even have one at the Institute.

We can add Cisco to the list above, given that they have already
converted more than 2,000 of their engineers to Linux desktops,
and have plans to move many more laptop users to the platform over
the next few years. They say the driver for Linux on the desktop
for them is not cost savings, but easier support.
http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;1394751021;fp;4;fpid;3

One thing that happens when a company has many Linux users is that
the company becomes motivated to work on areas in Linux that can
use improvement, or they add features they need, which often end
up back in the community. While we can think of many features or
changes Windows needs, there's no effective way to bring them about.

 

[Fred Abse]

It's a myth that Linux comes primarily from unpaid programmers.

What I said.

 

[Winfield Hill]

Fred Abse wrote...

What I said.

That's right. I guess it was your 'probably not "well paid"'
comment that set me off. Software engineers at IBM, Sun, Novell,
Red Hat, HP, Intel, CA, and Cisco, to mention a few places where
massive Linux programming is done, are probably quite well paid.
Linux development is serious business now.

 

[Fred Abse]

Fred Abse wrote...

[quoted text muted]

That's right. I guess it was your 'probably not "well paid"' comment
that set me off. Software engineers at IBM, Sun, Novell, Red Hat, HP,
Intel, CA, and Cisco, to mention a few places where massive Linux
programming is done, are probably quite well paid. Linux development is
serious business now.

Yes, I guess it all revolves around what one considers "well paid". Maybe
I should have said "overpaid"

He is well paid who is well satisfied ...

 

[Fred Abse]

Winfield Hill wrote...

[quoted text muted]

We can add Cisco to the list above, given that they have already
converted more than 2,000 of their engineers to Linux desktops, and have
plans to move many more laptop users to the platform over the next few
years. They say the driver for Linux on the desktop for them is not cost
savings, but easier support.
http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php/id;1394751021;fp;4;fpid;3

One thing that happens when a company has many Linux users is that the
company becomes motivated to work on areas in Linux that can use
improvement, or they add features they need, which often end up back in
the community. While we can think of many features or changes Windows
needs, there's no effective way to bring them about.

Amen to every word of that.

 

[keith]

Fred Abse wrote...

[quoted text muted]

That's right. I guess it was your 'probably not "well paid"' comment
that set me off. Software engineers at IBM, Sun, Novell, Red Hat, HP,
Intel, CA, and Cisco, to mention a few places where massive Linux
programming is done, are probably quite well paid. Linux development is
serious business now.

....and has been for a decade.

Yes, I guess it all revolves around what one considers "well paid". Maybe
I should have said "overpaid"

Now there's a stretch!

He is well paid who is well satisfied ...

Yikes! That sounds downright commie!

 

[Winfield Hill]

Fred Abse wrote...

Fred Abse wrote...

[quoted text muted]

That's right. I guess it was your 'probably not "well paid"' comment
that set me off. Software engineers at IBM, Sun, Novell, Red Hat,
HP, Intel, CA, and Cisco, to mention a few places where massive Linux
programming is done, are probably quite well paid. Linux development
is serious business now.

Yes, I guess it all revolves around what one considers "well paid".
Maybe I should have said "overpaid"

He is well paid who is well satisfied ...

Good point. But be careful, satisfaction doesn't buy homes or put
food on the table. Somehow I doubt that many Linux programmers are
"overpaid." There's lots of competition in that field.

And soon the Indian outsourcing community will make inroads. But
my guess is Indian that outsource managers do better when a software
spec has been written, or verbally spelled out by a hiring-company's
developers. So perhaps the offshore-programming approach will not
work well with the expoding free-software initiatives.

In the case of Linux development, the idea-generators will rule.

 

[Fred Abse]

Yikes! That sounds downright commie!

Sounds more like "Market Forces" to me. Written over 400 years ago.

 

[Fred Abse]

Fred Abse wrote...

Good point.

I can't, in all honesty, take credit for that phrase. It was written by a
guy in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, about 400 years ago

But be careful, satisfaction doesn't buy homes or put food
on the table

I'd call that level "adequately paid". "Well paid", I would put at a level
that enables a moderate degree of luxury in addition.

Somehow I doubt that many Linux programmers are
"overpaid." There's lots of competition in that field.

I agree with you there.

And soon the Indian outsourcing community will make inroads. But my
guess is Indian that outsource managers do better when a software spec
has been written, or verbally spelled out by a hiring-company's
developers. So perhaps the offshore-programming approach will not work
well with the expoding free-software initiatives.

In the case of Linux development, the idea-generators will rule.

As long as the bean-counters don't get too much of a hold :-(

 

[keith]

Sounds more like "Market Forces" to me. Written over 400 years ago.

Nope. "Satisfied" smacks of "he's paid enough". i.e. communist.

 

[John Woodgate]

Nope. "Satisfied" smacks of "he's paid enough". i.e. communist.

Well, almost any sentence can be distorted to mean something unlikely
(it's normal practice with standards!). But 'satisfied' here surely
means 'what he agrees is sufficient'.

 

[keith]

Well, almost any sentence can be distorted to mean something unlikely
(it's normal practice with standards!). But 'satisfied' here surely
means 'what he agrees is sufficient'.

How do you excuse "overpaid", as in Fred's comment:

Yes, I guess it all revolves around what one considers "well paid".
Maybe I should have said "overpaid"

Programmers "overpaid" by whose standards? The politburo?

 

[Fred Abse]

Nope. "Satisfied" smacks of "he's paid enough". i.e. communist

Other way round. The recipient satisfied with the payment that has been
agreed. That's bargaining. The basis of capitalism.