Had a subscription to it in the 1990s. Probably one of the best computing magazines that existed (it covered all sorts of topics, from CPU cache workings to file systems (like Veritas)).
It was an amazing magazine, one we still need to this day. I still subscribe to a couple magazines, IEEE's Computer, Micro, and Spectrum, and Communications of the ACM, on paper, and IEEE's Software on PDF, but none covers the breadth and depth of BYTE.
I bought myself a 3 year subscription with my very first pay cheque. I got 2 or 3 issues before it went under. As a way of teaching a teenager about the full range of computer technology from the Cambridge Active Badge through to Big Data, it was and is unmatched.
I have a bunch of the old ones from my late father, I have sunk thousands of hours in old computer magazines, there's something special to them that the new world cannot capture anymore.
It was the accessibility. You were learning computing concepts from scratch, that would then increase in complexity in real-time as your learning caught up if you were actively engaged.
As recently as a few years ago, Robert was directly answering emails and shipping out signed prints of his BYTE covers. We have had some hanging in our office for inspiration. He set the best tone for what computing feels like.
The logo for Smalltalk-80, and later Squeak, came from the Robert Tinney cover of the Byte issue which introduced Smalltalk. The story behind it is documented here:
For a long time Byte magazine was my only window on computing (I didn't have a computer yet because they were too expensive) and I always loved the covers. Same with Scientific American.
So much effort went into these and they always hit the mark.
When I was 10 years old in elementary school in rural Alberta, Canada in the early 80s this man's art (along with stacks of older Byte magazines that the librarian gifted me) were a gateway to another world.
RIP. Thanks for all the amazing imaginations and for being part of setting me on this career.
* https://archive.org/details/BYTE-MAGAZINE-COMPLETE/197509_By...
* https://archive.org/download/BYTE-MAGAZINE-COMPLETE
* https://vintageapple.org/byte/
* https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Byte_Magazine.htm
* 5mo ago, "Show HN: A zoomable, searchable archive of BYTE magazine": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45028002
Had a subscription to it in the 1990s. Probably one of the best computing magazines that existed (it covered all sorts of topics, from CPU cache workings to file systems (like Veritas)).
I still feel a bit like an orphan.
I have a bunch of the old ones from my late father, I have sunk thousands of hours in old computer magazines, there's something special to them that the new world cannot capture anymore.
there were strong positives to that, and they just cannot be replicated in a society of hyper-abundance and slop
https://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/3459
https://tinney.net/
RIP Mr Tinney.
So much effort went into these and they always hit the mark.
RIP. Thanks for all the amazing imaginations and for being part of setting me on this career.