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computerwriter.com
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So Long, Fast ForwardOn Friday, July 6, we got the word. Fast Forward editor, Rob Wright was on vacation, at home, when he got the call. It was left to him to break the bad news to the rest of us. After the next edition, the following Thursday, July 12, 2001, the Toronto Star would no longer publish the Fast Forward section. To say that those of us who wrote for the section were devastated is an understatement. None of us, including Rob, had any warning (so those of you who have been writing to me to complain about him should stop, right now. It wasn't his fault or his decision; he merely had the unenviable job of writing the notice). Most of us file our columns a week ahead. Mine, on the new 1.8 GHz Pentium 4, had already been sent. So, there was no way to say goodbye to you. That, like the cancellation itself, sucks – but that's life in the big city. I'm not going to rehash what Rob got to say in his closing column. The essence of it is that although the information we put in our columns and that Rob got from other writers, was solid. And we know that you appreciated it. Alas, subscriptions don't pay for newspapers; advertising does. And, even though it's anti-intuitive, when the economy goes south, the first thing that companies cut is their ad budgets. But, together, we had a helluva ride, didn't we dear reader? I can't begin to list the number of changes in the computer industry and its products in the past six and a half years. I do know that when I started writing my Computer Wares column, it was on what was then the state of the art – a 66 MHz 486 DX/2 that I have long since retired. That was Frank (so called because it was tall, had bolts in its neck, had an attitude, and I built it myself in the lab one night). Ironically, I dug Frank out of mothballs last week because the only copy I had of my resume was still on it and hadn't been transferred to my newer equipment. What was most remarkable is that it still, more or less, worked – at least well enough to get the character-based, DOS version of WordPerfect 5.1 up on screen to find and recover the file. What's equally ironic is that running the version of DOS that was current with Windows for Workgroups 3.11, it felt damned near as fast as my current system, Quasimodo, with its brand new 1.8 GHz Pentium 4 processor and four times the memory. Sigh. Where's Myles?The death of Fast Forward does not mean Myles is gone, too. In fact, with the slowdown at canadacomputes.com that took place in April, I'd already started courting other publications. For the next little while you can find my work at: CRN (Computer Reseller News) Canada Your Office and, at least once a month, at For folks in the Greater Toronto Area and environs, you'll also find me back, giving seminars on buying and building computers at Computer Fest (hint: the next one is September 21-23 at the Automotive Building, Exhibition Place). Will I be doing more reviews for local or national publications? Too soon to tell. Stay tuned. mw |
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