I could have sworn that my SQL Server Magazine seemed much smaller this month.  When I pulled out last’s months magazine to compare, the December issue is 8 pages shorter (48 versus this month’s 40). In fact, I found where Lee Everest confirmed that the magazine averaged 80 pages only a few years ago!

I realize that ink-and-paper publications are struggling right now, but it seems to me that when you cut your pages you also cut your ad space, and in the long run, subscribers.  Will SQL Server Magazine become an online-only publication, similar to what PC Magazine is doing in February?  SQL Server Standard seems to have fallen off the map, and there are no other mainstream SQL Server print publications that I know of.  This magazine has always been a good source of intelligent, well-edited and accurate content, and I would hate to see it fall by the wayside.

I’m still a subscriber through summer of next year if memory serves, but I’ll have to then reconsider whether I’m getting $40/year value from the mag (interesting that the price stayed the same despite the haircut).  I am more than willing to pay for a quality magazine that brings me value, but if the content is to dwindle down to nothing I’d rather access the myriad free resources and judge their quality myself.  If printing costs are the root of this evil, I’d be happy with an online-only version if the same quality standards were upheld, although I must admit that [political_incorrectness] there’s a certain thrill with opening the little plastic bag every month [/political_incorrectness].

I’ll be interested to see how this one turns out.