Yes, the rumors are true. As of April 2, 2007, InfoWorld is discontinuing its print component. No more printing on dead trees, no more glossy covers, no more supporting the US Post Office in its rush to get thousands of inky copies on subscribers’ desks by Monday morning (or thereabouts). The issue that many of you will receive in your physical mailbox next week — vol. 29, issue 14 — will be the last one in InfoWorld’s storied 29-year history.But let me dispel any other rumors. InfoWorld is not dead. We’re not going anywhere. We are merely embracing a more efficient delivery mechanism –the Web — at InfoWorld.com. You can still get all the news coverage, reviews, analysis, opinion, and commentary that InfoWorld is known for. You’ll just have to access it in a browser (or RSS reader) — something more than a million of you already do every month. Frankly, the editorial staff foresaw the demise of print from a long way off and began making preparations for that inevitable day. Now that it is here, InfoWorld is well positioned to serve our readers, both through InfoWorld.com and our burgeoning events business. Keep in mind that for several years now, we have been posting all of the magazine’s content online first, sometimes as early as six days before the print issue arrived anywhere. But that content was just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to the articles we had prepared for print, our staff and contributors create and post the equivalent of a full magazine online every day, featuring 25 blogs, bundles of daily online-only news stories, columns, articles, regular videos, slideshows, and podcasts. The limited confines of a print magazine, with 32 pages of editorial content each week, simply couldn’t begin to address the needs of an information-hungry IT audience. Now, I don’t want to sound glib about print’s demise. I’ve worked on print publications for nearly 30 years, and I enjoy the physical feel of a magazine, its portability, the way you can spread it out in your lap and dog ear pages for future visits. Online bookmarks may be more efficient, site searches retrieve information faster, but it’s hard to beat a magazine for its tactility and visceral thrill. On a personal note, I’ll miss creating covers, working with my art director and other editors to develop a concept, then reviewing the sketches and tweaking until everything works. And it’s hard to imagine I’ll never have to create another InfoWorld “coverline” — the only-in-magazine-style type that graces each cover, combining equal parts information and tease. For an editor, few jobs are as satisfying, especially when the finished product arrives, all shiny and new.InfoWorld, though, is a for-profit business not unlike the businesses many of you run or work for. I am an editor, which means I answer to the readers, not the advertisers. That will never change. Nonetheless, I also know how the business works, or in some cases, doesn’t work. The ad-driven economic model that supported print magazines for years (publishers deliver a steady stream of highly qualified readers, and advertisers pay for the privilege of putting ads in front of them) is unraveling. Given the alternative, advertisers want more immediate gratification and measureable results than print can afford them. On the Web, they can know who and how many people are viewing their message; they can target specific audiences and know exactly what they are getting. They can engage potential customers directly in ways print magazines never allowed. There’s no more guesswork.And what if advertisers want even more intimate face-to-face contact? They can sign on as sponsors for events, which puts them in front of several hundred influential, spectacularly targeted attendees. InfoWorld.com is benefiting greatly from this business shift; InfoWorld Events is also prospering. InfoWorld print simply couldn’t keep up with the rest of our product line. So this is publishing’s immediate future, and I expect other trade publications will be following InfoWorld’s lead soon enough. Some things shouldn’t change, however: The basic principle of separation of church and state — that advertisers must not influence what editors say, write, or cover — is still sacrosanct. We remain committed to holding that line and serving our audience, whether they are readers, video viewers, podcast listeners, or conference attendees.I’d like to make this more of a dialog than a soliloquy. So tell me what you think, or share any memories of InfoWorld print here. Let the conversation begin.— Steve Fox, Editor in Chief, InfoWorld Technology Industry