Posted by Devin de Gruyl on Oct 7th, 2009
Whatever became of INFO?
Unfortunately, for all that it was the most innovative, unique, and fun-to-read Commodore magazine on the market, the sad truth is that INFO was never a resounding financial success. Part of it was, perhaps, because the magazine was never shy about printing its reviewers’ honest opinions about this or that product; there is at least one recorded instance of a company that refused to advertise in INFO ever again after a negative review of one of their products appeared in an early issue. (This was a kind of strongarm tactic used in the early days of computer journalism to “buy” more favorable press; usually, the magazine would capitulate and soften their review before publication rather than risk losing the advertising revenue. INFO never did this, and their brutal honesty often did not win them many friends among the bean-counters, but did earn them the reputation of being one of the most trustworthy and reliable sources for product reviews in the Commodore world.) They were also one of the more expensive computer mags on the market at the time, often selling for a dollar or more per issue higher than their next priciest competitor, which also did not endear them to many people.
INFO went into hibernation following their 29th issue (January/February 1990), only to return six months later with a new monthly format, a newly-rendered title (.info), and a renewed focus on the Amiga line, this time exclusively; it was finally time to drop coverage of the Commodore 8-bit line that started the whole party, as the evolving marketplace had finally all but extinguished the C64′s flame by this point. Sadly, as I myself did not get my first Amiga for another 18 months, this meant that I myself had to leave .info behind, as I saw little purpose (at that time) in buying a magazine for a computer I didn’t own, no matter how much I may have personally loved its style and content. (And ignoring the fact that the last few issues of the 8/16-bit INFO had been over 80% Amiga anyway, excepting only the games sections, which were still a pretty even split between Amiga and C64 software.)
When I finally got my long-lusted-after Amiga 500 for Christmas of 1991, one of the very first purchases I made was the latest copy of .info, fresh from the shelves of my favorite computer shop… but alas, by this point it was only a shadow of its former self. Oh, it was still produced on Amigas, and the feisty tone of its reviews was still present, but you could tell that the long years of “fighting the good fight” and getting recognition for these wonderful machines despite clear and present evidence that Commodore itself was being run by barely-trained chimpanzees, was finally taking a toll on Benn, Mark, and everyone else. .info‘s pagecount had shrunk dramatically (down to about 70 or so pages per issue, where at its height there had been well over 100), advertising was way down, and an overall sense of defeatism had begun to permeate the pages, almost as if they knew it was only a matter of time before they had to pack it in. Indeed, .info only lasted about two or three issues more after I reconnected with it, the magazine ceasing publication without warning after issue #49 (April 1992).
For a far more detailed history of INFO than anything I could provide, and a “Where are they now?” look at what happened to Benn, Mark, and everyone else who made that magazine what it was, Mark R. Brown himself has a website full of pictures, scans, and other goodies. The Wikipedia article on INFO is also well worth your time to read.
I know this article probably wasn’t to everyone’s taste, and not just because I don’t have any pictures or scans to offer you this time. But I just wanted to help spread the word about one of the true “lost pioneers” of computer journalism, and publishing in general. I’ll freely admit to having been greatly influenced by INFO during my formative years, to the point where, twenty years from now, I hope my writing can be looked back upon with even one-tenth as much reverence and fondness as I do today for my old copies of INFO.
Related posts:
- Retro-Active: The Great Giana Sisters
- Retro-Active: The Nine Biggest Mistakes of Commodore
- Retro-Active: The Ten Worst Home Computers of All Time
- Retro-Active: Snake’s Revenge
- Retro-Active: Super Pitfall
Related posts:
- Retro-Active: The Great Giana Sisters
- Retro-Active: The Nine Biggest Mistakes of Commodore
- Retro-Active: The Ten Worst Home Computers of All Time
- Retro-Active: Snake’s Revenge
- Retro-Active: Super Pitfall
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Just in case anyone is wondering about the URL for this article, and just who the heck this “Arby Fuller” guy is anyway…
As mentioned in the man text of the article, the very first issue of INFO-64 was a one-man operation pretty much exclusively… but you can imagine how amateurish that might look even in 1983. So, Benn Dunnington got the idea to use some pseudonyms in a few of his reviews, to at least make it look like there was more than just the one writer on staff, when in fact it was just him for the most part. “Arby Fuller” was one that stuck around for several years, long after INFO had hired a legitimate staff of in-house writers and pundits, to the point it became something of an inside joke. (And I’m not speaking out of turn to say this, because Benn himself as much as admitted it several times during the magazine’s run.)
So the URL is just a little acknowledgment of perhaps the world’s first vaporware Commodore reviewer. By which I mean, the reviewer himself was the one who didn’t really exist!