Why did BYTE focus on technology and cover multiple platforms?
There’s definitely a need for product magazines, but somebody must cover new technology — after all, this is a technology-driven industry. Once a magazine decides to cover new technology, a multiplatform approach is a must, because new technology doesn’t appear on only one platform. Indeed, new technology often appears first on alternative platforms, then filters down later to the mass-market platform. Users of PC compatibles might still be fumbling with command-line user interfaces if the Macintosh had not made graphical user interfaces popular in the 1980s. When Commodore introduced the Amiga in 1985, PC Magazine heaped scorn on what was actually the first true multimedia computer. The reviewer smugly dismissed the Amiga as a toylike “game machine” because of its sophisticated color graphics and stereo sound. Today, of course, virtually all PCs have sophisticated color graphics and stereo sound, and games are the most popular software products sold for PCs. All significant new techn
