I was just reading the October 2007 issue and they have done what magazines are apt to do; redesign themselves to take a fresher approach. Cynically I'm not sure this is anything except billable time for the graphics and layout team, but this time it does look like they are adjusting their formula to include more entry level articles and more variety. It also may be that Mike Otey is no longer the editor - hard to tell, but he didn't write the editorial this time and I'm not sure he's ever missed a month. I don't know him but I've enjoyed his comments over the years. They also allude to a 'new user base' due to things like SharePoint, WSUS, etc - it will be interesting to see if the balance tips too far the other way from the previous bias towards more high end articles.

We'll see how it turns out, but for now I still recommend adding it to your reading list, along with The SQL Server Standard of course, even if the site hasn't been updated lately!