It’s been two years now since this magazine was renamed to “Dedicated Systems Magazine”. Since then, our readership has acclimated to the new name. The reason behind this change was the fact that we felt that the term “dedicated systems” is more comprehensive then “real-time systems” or “embedded systems”.  

Having said this, your favouritemagazine is about to undergo another revolution.  We thought it was appropriate to launch a new concept: a multimedia Dedicated Systems Magazine. Starting Q1 2002, the magazine will be printed in a smaller format (125 x 177 mm), and will be 44 pages thick. It will include a CD, whose content will also be published in a special section on our website accessible to subscribers only.  

This new concept offers two major advantages over the traditional paper-only format. The printed copy will dedicate one page only to each individual article, and will present a summary of the full paper, followed by the conclusions. Since time is a precious resource to many of our readers, some of you may find this amount of information sufficient. However, the full-length versions of the article will be put on the CD and on the website, laid out in the template you are currently accustomed to. 

The second benefit is one we are very excited about. As far as the magazine content is concerned, we will have a lot more flexibility. After all, we are no longer restricted to paper only; we can just as easily publish multimedia content like video tutorials and presentations. It also permits us to bring you demonstration software that vendors will want to contribute. Companies will be offered CD space to put their company presentations on, which is a new way of advertising. 

The new magazine will continue to be available on a subscription basis only. However, this formula will also change. We will do away with the concept of “company subscriptions” (with up to five readers), and replace them with individual subscriptions. 

Dr Martin Timmerman
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Dedicated Systems Magazine in general