50,000 Subscribers . . . and a New Name
This issue of UniForum Monthly is both an important beginning and a somewhat sentimental ending.
It is the first issue mailed to 50,000 subscribers. Many of you will remember UniForum Monthly's predecessor magazine, CommUNIXations, which at its peak circulation printed fewer than 10,000 copies. After CommUNIXations became UniForum Monthly, its circulation remained equal to membership size, eventually growing to around 14,000 copies by 1994. It was then that UniForum's Board of Directors approved a plan to unbundle the magazine from membership and make it available by subscription. This strategy saw circulation leap to 40,000 copies per month and gave us a large new base of open systems professionals to whom we have communicated the UniForum message over the past two years.
And now we move up to 50,000. UniForum Monthly is the flagship publication of the association, and it serves as the most effective method of reaching the growing community of users and vendors of open technologies. The reaction we've received from you has been outstanding. You tell us you like the educational articles on systems implementation, the in-depth case studies on specific installations, and the informational columns and departments on topics such as the World-Wide Web and system administration. We know you're reading the magazine because you respond in droves to our inquiries about hot topics, which we print in our "Member Views" column. What you have to say always makes good reading.
This is also the last issue of UniForum Monthly.
Wait--don't panic. Effective with the February issue--and timed to debut at UniForum '96--this magazine becomes IT Solutions: Open Technologies for the Enterprise. Why change the name? Why tamper with success? First, the name change recognizes the reality of what the publication became two years ago when we increased its circulation (and changed its editorial to the style you see today). Much of the open systems marketplace--once just a niche--has become a vibrant part of the computing mainstream. IT Solutions--as its name indicates--gives UniForum a clear path to educate users of enterprise systems on all advanced computing technologies, while maintaining our firm belief that the model of open computing, based on shared industry standards, remains the best.
Second, we're not tampering with the editorial content; we're drawing more attention to it and expanding it. The features you've been reading on Unix and open systems implementations will continue, as will the UniForum-related articles; a new column on client/server begins this month; and a bright new logo and design format will make IT Solutions even more readable and visually stimulating. We'll probably ruffle some feathers--no change pleases everyone--but the bottom line is that we're remaining true to our colors. We are a Unix-centric, pro-open technologies magazine and association. (For more on our new publishing efforts, see "Association News" on page 12.)
The cover illustration and one of the features in this issue are, of course, related to UniForum '96, which takes place next month in San Francisco. You'll see why we call the article "A Gourmet Menu for Learners," as we have prepared the best UniForum Conference ever, along with the most spectacular lineup of keynoters any computer conference has ever delivered: Platt of Hewlett-Packard, Gerstner of IBM, McNealy of Sun, and Mohan of SCO. I urge you to read all about it and give serious consideration to attending. You could do worse than to be in San Francisco over Valentine's Week at the finest open systems event in the world. See you next month!
Richard H. Jaross
Executive Director
UniForum Association