RE: News/400's new web site?

RE: News/400's new web site? I wanted to write and help clarify a few things about he purpose of the new AS400 Network. I am including a note that I sent o our customers earlier today. However, I did want to address a few pecific concerns I have seen that some have expressed on this list erver and then you can read the general letter. 1. We are not asking people to sign up for the forums r a specific web service. We are asking that people join the AS400 etwork. As you point out, some free services don't require any kind of egistration. Joining the AS400 Network gets you access to free ervices we offer and much more -- things like our Worldwide Events rea, JOBS400, special features, member communities that where we pay oderators to add features and moderate discussions, and many more hings. So I just wanted to be clear that there is great value in even ur free membership. 2. We have a specific privacy policy that governs our se of the information you provide. We do NOT give this information to thers without your permission. Over the years, NEWS/400 is one of the ew in the market that don't sell your name, phone number, etc. We espect your privacy but we also want to have a relationship with you s our customer. 3. Magazines in print are not dead at all. In fact, any, including ours are healthy. We are not doing this to recover any ost revenues. In fact, if you are a current subscriber of NEWS/400, ou are automatically a member of the AS400 Network. We are giving many ore people the ability to subscribe at a lower cost or continue to use aluable resources for free. For instance, in the past if someone else t your site wanted to read NEWS/400 they had to wait until someone assed them a copy or pay $129 for their own copy. Now you can pay 19.95 a year for that second, third, fourth person and they can read he entire magazine online immediately and then read the print later if hey want. You can read our entire archives online instead of having to urchase the additional CD package so this is also cheaper for readers. would have cost $199 to you for magazine + CD). We also lowered the ost of foreign subscribers from $249/magazine to $200 for the full rofessional network membership, including the magazine. As you can see e are actually reducing the cost for many people to access this nformation. 4. Much of our site is still FREE. The only thing we re asking is some basic demographics. This is less than some of the ontrolled magazines you subscribe to ask for. We do this because we re audited in terms of readership. In other words, part of our overall ublishing effort in print and on the web is supported by advertising. hat is publishing. They require that we provide just summary nformation of the types of industries and individuals that we reach. e do not sell them names or give them any access without your ermission. We summarize our readership as any other publication. The uestions we are asking are the same that we ask subscribers now of EWS/400. 5. Worldwide .. I noted Don's comments about my resentation. NEWS/400 content is already in eight languages around the orld in over 100 countries. Those are print magazines Empressas/400 Spanish & Portuguese in 16 Spanish speaking countries and Brazil), EWS/400 Espana (Spain), NEWS/400 Italia (Italy), News Magazine France), NEWS/400.UK (English but local British edition and coverage), EWS/400 Germany, Info/400 (Netherlands), and just this week a Japanese -zine coming online. We are already worldwide. We already have web ites in those languages as well. My comments were not directed to the act that we believe the AS400 Network will take us worldwide since we bviously have already done that. Those publications and their web ites along with ours represent a readership of over 120,000 AS/400 rofessionals today. Yes, we want all of the readers of those ublications to feel part of the AS400 Network and participate in key hings like polls, discussions, etc. to have a greater voice in the arket. 6. Performance. My apologies for some initial erformance issues. We will resolve those. Today there were some pecific problems. We are only asking that you do this once to get tarted. We protect our names. We use this only for auditing purposes. n the future we will use additional (optional) demographics to ustomer your site if you want that but only if you want that (this is ot yet on the site). Like any of your companies, we want to have a elationship with our customers and make sure we provide the best roducts to meet their needs. Here is the letter I wrote to explain our changes in ome detail. I welcome the conversation and also want to note that I am eceiving a great number of supportive comments as well. ******** A letter from NEWS/400 editor-in-chief Wayne Madden: Dear AS/400 Professional, I am writing to tell you about some exciting new hanges to NEWS/400 and news400.com. By now, you may have read or heard bout the AS400 Network; this exciting new service is now ive! I am truly excited about what we are doing, and I am onfident that these changes will again demonstrate our commitment to the S/400 market. I want to take a few minutes of your time to explain hat we are doing, why we are doing it, and how you and every AS/400 rofessional at your site can easily and affordably participate and enefit. ______________________________________________________________________ In the past year, I have observed a true change in he nature of subscribers to business publications in general. here can be no doubt that the Internet creates opportunities for ubscribers that have never existed before. In fact, subscribers are edefining that very word - "subscriber" - to include far more han just subscribing to some type of print product like a newspaper, ewsletter, or magazine. Today, our subscribers truly want to have access to nformation in several different forms and want access to nformation more frequently than NEWS/400 can provide with only a monthly print ublication. We are committed to meeting your information and ducation needs and getting you the information and education you need n a form that you desire. Nearly five years ago, we began our Internet ourney to complement the magazine. Our goal then and now is to uild a community of AS/400 professionals by putting new and unique ontent and activities on the Web for our visitors. Over the ears we have added content on our site that includes unique Web-only eatures, Web-only columnists, current news and analysis, product nnouncements, an online product directory, member communities that eature discussion forums, as well as articles of interest. We were the irst to launch AS/400 news and tip-related e-mail services and you, ur readers, tell me that these e-mails are the best in the industry. p to this point, you have probably seen all our activities as NEWS/400 magazine," with an additional Web site. Now we are changing the way e do business for you. ______________________________________________________________________ The AS400 Network includes our two print magazines, EWS/400 and Selling AS/400 Solutions (for qualified business partners nd ISVs), our new Web site and AS/400 portal "as400network.com", ur market-leading e-mail newsletters, and our educational products and ervices. Every IT professional at your site can easily participate for free" or as a paid member of the network. Here's how! If you are a urrent NEWS/400 subscriber, you are automatically a Professional ember of the AS400 Network. As a Professional Member you will eceive: * 14 issues of EWS/400 magazine annually * full access to very area of the as400network.com Web site * the e-mail ewsletters or your choice (you select these in your nline member profile) * discounts on all EWS/400 books, seminars and Technical Training enter classes as well as products and/or services from elected Network partners. If you are an existing subscriber, you should have lready received your March issue of NEWS/400. Attached to the cover f that issue was a notice giving you the good news that you are now lready a member of the new AS400 Network. For you, it's as easy as sing the member number on your mailing label to log onto the AS400 etwork. You will be asked only to complete your contact information long with a four- question Member Profile, and then you will enjoy ull access to our online services, including the full NEWS/400 code nd article archives. You'll also continue to get your monthly opy of NEWS/400 magazine as always. ______________________________________________________________________ Until now, for anyone else at your site to have ccess to NEWS/400 magazine content, each person had to wait for you to ass along your copy, ask for your CD Reference Library which you urchased with your subscription, or pay for their own subscription to he magazine and CD Reference Library. This could cost up to an dditional $199 per individual. We have made this easier and less xpensive. If you are a Professional Member of the AS400 Network (i.e. urrent subscriber to NEWS/400), additional IT personnel at your site can ow become Professional Members for only $19.95 each annually. his special-price membership includes all the benefits of a rofessional Member (e.g., full access to the Web site, discounts on products) ith the exception that these members will not receive a printed copy f NEWS/400. All professional members can read each issue of NEWS/400 nline while they also interact with the many other areas of the etwork. Please pass the word to others in your IT department bout this great $19.95 offer so that all of you can benefit from verything the AS400 Network offers. Each person only needs to visit the eb site and sign up for the $19.95 each offer or call one of our ales associates at 800-650-1804 (toll-free in the U.S. and Canada) or 70-663-4700. ______________________________________________________________________ Finally, Associate Memberships are available FREE for hose who don't require access to the NEWS/400 article and code atabases. Associate members can sign up for our NEWSWire and Tips -mails and access online news and product information, Jobs400, vents, discussion forums, and more. So there is truly no excuse for ny AS/400 professional or IT Manager/Director not to sign up n the AS400 Network now! ______________________________________________________________________ I want to stress this issue of privacy by making you promise. We will not sell, rent, or give away any of the ersonal information you provide to us unless you have given explicit ermission to us for some purpose we identify to you. This includes your phone umber, fax number, and e-mail address. When completing our profile, we will ask specifically about e-mails that might be of value to ou such as our own NEWSWire e-mails, our Tips & Techniques -mail, our own NEWSBrief, which keeps you current with the latest information ontained in the AS400 Network, and even an e-mail that brings you roduct information and special offers from AS/400 vendors. However, lease be certain that we do NOT provide your e-mail address directly o ANY company outside of Duke Communications (our parent company) or direct use, and we send only those e-mails which you have equested in your profile. I couldn't let this exciting new resource pass ithout a personal letter. I hope that you agree that the AS400 Network s a resource that truly gets at the heart of publishing for the S/400 marketplace. Please feel free to reply back to me at eedback@as400network.com if you have questions. Wayne Madden The AS400 Network