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Between the Bytes
The soul of a new magazine
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| Val Souza |
“Be careful,” my well-meaning but decidedly
risk-averse friends and relatives warned me. “They’ll
make you slog and then pay you a pittance, if anything!” But
throwing caution to the wind, I took up the project to launch India’s
first weekly IT newsmagazine back in the spring of 1990. Still relatively
fresh out of B-school, I designed and executed a comprehensive market
research study, chalked out an ambitious editorial plan, and then
brought out the first four flimsy issues of Express Computer. All
for the then princely sum of Rs 15,000 (which, incidentally, was
paid to me promptly by the Indian Express management, sans fuss).
Looking back at those frugal first few issues, it’s not difficult to fathom
why critics scoffed at the idea of an IT newsweekly, and why the competition
didn’t so much as blink back then. Big mistake. For, they didn’t reckon
on Santosh Goenka’s vision as Publisher and my persistence as Editor (ably
backed by Sajid Desai and George Michaels), which paid off handsomely in the
end. Nevertheless, it did cost me four years of head-banging-against-brick-wall
before the Express management finally took notice of the golden goose sitting
right on its lap.
In January 1994, we switched to colour on the front page and launched on the
newsstands. That’s when the lap dance actually began, and within a few
months we were simply rockin’. Circulation zoomed, ads flowed in steadily,
and soon we were setting up news bureaus all over the country. The EC success
prompted the group to launch trade publications for other verticals, and thus
was born the Business Publications Division of the Indian Express group.
For over a decade now, EC has meticulously chronicled the evolution and progress
of the Indian IT industry. We were there when the software exports folk were
taking their first tentative steps. Egging them on to venture out further, we
showcased their growing prowess, highlighted their every success, and even partnered
with them on the global stage.
We were there when the Internet peeped out shyly from behind the NCST doors—we
embraced it wholeheartedly and were the first to trumpet its virtues to the
rest of India, via a column that was quaintly called Internauting. We shared
the excitement of the dotcom boom, but like most others, got carried away and
failed to anticipate the inevitable bust.
We were there to champion the myriad causes of the hardware and software industries,
and present their case to government policy makers whenever required. We were
also the industry’s unbiased mirror, reflecting its glory for the rest
of the world to see, but also, on the odd occasion, helping it tidy up its act.
As the industry matured, so did our journalists. Despite having to cover Unix
in the morning, Windows in the evening, and Java at supper time, higher levels
of sophistication gradually seeped in, and soon our writers were analysing the
news and providing insights into technology trends as well as (or even better
than) the so-called experts and specialists.
It’s been a heady fifteen years, during which we’ve travelled alongside
the Indian IT industry in good times and bad, through sickness and health, with
unwritten pledges of mutual love and support for all the days of our lives.
While that can never change, the time has now come for us to also set new goals
for ourselves and take up new challenges.
The relaunch of Express Computer in a spiffy new getup is not just a superficial
cosmetic makeover. With our vast reach and high levels of editorial credibility
and insight, our new mission is to help quicken the pace of efficient adoption
of technology by businesses in India, be it large enterprises or small/medium-sized
companies. India can sure do with a massive productivity boost, and we’re
convinced that the time is now ripe to make that happen through rapid deployment
of information technology.
We’re honing in on serious business users of information technology who
also play a direct or indirect role in deciding on IT procurement and deployment
within the organisation. We intend to equip them with all the knowledge they
need to make the right decisions, while guiding them on the pitfalls to be avoided,
through advice from those who have been there and done it before. Of course,
given our weekly frequency and newsy orientation, we reckon that EC will continue
to be the magazine that everyone with a business interest in information technology
reads (no matter what else they read).
Yes, if there’s one thing certain in this volatile and unpredictable world
of IT, it’s that every Monday morning for the next fifteen years, a splendid
new edition of Express Computer will roll off the presses and into the hands
of tens of thousands of readers who derive their livelihood directly from some
form of information technology—each now armed with the power of being better
informed. Cheers to “India, IT Superpower”—circa 2020.
Val Souza, Consulting Editor
valsouza@expresscomputeronline.com
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