It is with a fair amount of sadness that I learn that Ovum, under its new owners Datamonitor and now Informa, has just published the last edition of SYSTEMHOUSE and that Hotnews will also cease from early May 08. They will be replaced by a monthly Straight Talk which will contain broader coverage of global players and markets.
After starting my analysis company in 1986, I published the first Holway Report in 1988. But readers quickly told me that they needed something more often than once a year. So the first Systemhouse appeared on 1st Nov 1989. It hit a chord. Every other tech publication at the time was “journalistic” and/or “technical”. Systemhouse was highly opinionated right from the start and covered technology from a corporate viewpoint. Both were “firsts”!
For the first 10 years I wrote every word in every Systemhouse. I contributed to every edition up to Jan 07. There were 222 Systemhouse editions in total but April 2008 will be the last
Hotnews is a bit younger. I started it in Aug 1996 and I still reckon it was the first UK tech blog – although the word hadn’t been invented back then. In 2004 whilst at Ovum we added the EuroView daily.
Everyone and every company needs to 'move on' and I'm sure the replacements will be excellent. But that doesn't stop the sadness when something that had become part of your life finally dies.
I've written a review (to see the pdf file Click here) of the main topics that Systemhouse created.
They included
- Acquisition indigestion
- Boring Awards
- Y2K microclimate
- Y2K Hangover
- The Emperor’s New Clothes
- Dot.Con
- You don’t know whose swimming naked until the tide goes out
- Freejellybeenz.com
- IT's all over now
- Make Do and Mend
- Holway's Martini Moment
- “I used to drive a Microsoft, now I fly a Google”
Many, like the Boring accolade, are still used today I am pleased to report. So maybe something from the last 22 years of my life will 'live on'.
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