Is PC World an Advertising Rag?

Topic

New Reply

[RetiredGeek]

Hey Y’all,

My latest feed from PC World has an updated “Best Backup Software” article.

So how come neither Macrium Reflect or Terabyte Image for Windows are mentioned.
These are two programs that I know from personal experience to be very good software.
IMHO…I guess they just didn’t advertise in PCW or pay someone off to get mentioned.

Years, and I mean years ago, the computer press could be relied upon to give you the straight scoop, however, that no longer seems to be the case IMHO!

Thank the stars for AskWoody.com! Here you get the straight scoop in spades!

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

• This topic was modified 9 months, 3 weeks ago by RetiredGeek.
• This topic was modified 9 months, 3 weeks ago by RetiredGeek.

6 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, SueW, opti1, Lars220, Cybertooth, satrow

Reply | Quote

Replies

RetiredGeek wrote:

Years, and I mean years ago, the computer press could be relied upon to give you the straight scoop,…

Yeah, I remember those days, back when they had plenty of ads, but also plenty of good articles about products and trends in the industry as well.

Nowadays, they have the following link for their editorial independence policy: https://www.pcworld.com/about/affiliate-link-policy

I urge folks to take it as you wish.  🙂

2 users thanked author for this post.

Lars220, Cybertooth

Reply | Quote

It’s all downhill since 2013.

PCWorld Exits Print, and the Era of Computer Magazines Ends

The last of the big general-interest PC magazines is no longer a magazine.
–  By Harry McCracken  –  July 11, 2013
Optional additional sub-title to consider:
PC World Digital is now a full fledged advertisement dispenser (?)

“After slightly more than thirty years in print, PCWorld magazine is ceasing publication, effective with the current issue, to focus on its website and digital editions. … The web has been awfully hard on magazines, and no category has suffered more than computer publications. Both readers and advertisers have largely moved online. Many of them did so years ago — especially the sort of tech-savvy people who once read PC magazines. At the end, PCWorld was about a quarter the size it once was in terms of pages and had lost two-thirds of its readership. I don’t even want to think about what had happened to its profits.”

Follow the money, it looks like advertisements keep them going.
PCWorld Digital Magazine FAQs

Amazing Truths Revealed: Link to Simply Magnificent AskWoody Knowledge Bases

3 users thanked author for this post.

Charlie, opti1, Cybertooth

Reply | Quote

I subscribed to PC World magazine from its inaugural issue through its last print edition. When they went all-digital, it quickly became clear that they were turning into just another tech website, and there was no particular reason to keep subscribing to them. So I got a refund for the remaining issues and have visited their site maybe a half-dozen times in the years since.

At around the same time, I discovered Maximum PC magazine. They, too, eventually went all-digital, in 2023, but they continue to publish it in magazine format, down to the page dimensions and page count. So I continue to read it on my phone, even though the experience isn’t nearly as useful or satisfying as a real paper book. (My magazines are typically dog-eared and marked up with highlighter and pen, something that’s vastly more cumbersome to replicate on a phone app, let alone to see at a glance.)

 

Keep Running Windows 7 Safely for Years to Come  
Make Windows 10 look and work like Windows 7

Reply | Quote

I knew years ago that the PC World magazine reviews and others were biased thru first hand knowledge. Many years ago I was a software reviewer for another publication at that time – Neat Net Tricks. More than once did the representative of a software company offer to purchased advertisement space so we would review their product and we were told by that representative that this was the “industry standard” practiced by other publications for the reviews by those publications. The individual reviews were not biased by the maker buying/not buying ad space (just as their policies stated), but which software was included in the review was (the policies never stated how the software that is reviewed is selected for review). I am happy to say that Neat Net Tricks had a strict policy that any software that we reviewed could NOT be advertised in the publication…truly unbiased reviews. Our review concept was original and great. Each member of the review panel tested the software as a user and published their review independent of the others. The reader would have 5 separate reviews from 5 different users on the same software. This resulted in realistic reviews that the readers could count on.

HTH, Dana:))

4 users thanked author for this post.

TechTango, Mr. Austin, Cybertooth, opti1

Reply | Quote

If I’m not mistaken PC World is now one of the media outlets that promotes offers to buy various MS Office suites at prices like $19.99 – $29.99, etc.. That says something right there.

Reply | Quote

Yep. Most online reviews have to be triangulated with at least two other sources.

Human, who sports only naturally-occurring DNA ~ oneironaut ~ broadcaster

1 user thanked author for this post.

IT Manager Geek

Reply | Quote