Changes coming to the Windows Secrets newsletter

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	INTRODUCTION Changes coming to the Windows Secrets newsletter
	By Tracey Capen In the Oct. 1 issue, I noted that Windows Secrets subscribers will see changes in the newsletter. Here’s what we’re working on.

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The full text of this column is posted at WindowsSecrets.com/introduction/changes-coming-to-the-windows-secrets-newsletter/ (opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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One reason I haven’t subscribed is that it’s in dollars. Are there any plans to offer subs in other currencies? Pounds and Australian dollars would be good, probably others as well.

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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One reason I haven’t subscribed is that it’s in dollars. Are there any plans to offer subs in other currencies? Pounds and Australian dollars would be good, probably others as well.

You could try the XE Personal Currency Assistant. Just add a bookmark to your bookmark bar with the URL http://www.xe.com/pca.

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Isn’t that what credit cards are for?

cheers, Paul

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I subscribe in dollars, and my credit card does a conversion at a good rate, and adds 2% (I think) for their fee.

When I buy something at amazon.com (rather than Amazon.co.UK) I do the same – I worked out once that it was cheaper that way than paying in UKP and letting Amazon do the conversion.

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

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Am a life time subscriber and Don’t like the plans for the revised news letter.
I HATE road rallies where I have to chase after articles.
Give me the whole thing in one convenient location, that I can “download” for off line viewing.
Not looking forward to this. don’t see it as an improvement, more of a time waster.

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As requested I sent an e-mail to editor@windowssecrets.com. This is what it said:

I’d really like you to reconsider the decision not to put the full stories in the e-mail newsletter. One of the best things about it at the moment is that I can read it off-line. By not putting the full story in the newsletter you are reducing its usefulness so I would be pleased if you are able to change your mind about that.

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One of the best things about it at the moment is that I can read it off-line. By not putting the full story in the newsletter you are reducing its usefulness so I would be pleased if you are able to change your mind about that.

Yup going down the same road as AOL forced Compuserve to go. The BEST forum system on the WWW ( and the internet before that). RIP Compuserve. and give WS a tube down the thoat…

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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It would be nice to have a few options. Some folks like the all in one approach. Those are the folks that will be highly dissatisfied with the updates. Folks like me don’t mind clicking but still would rather see all in one email. Other folks might be fine with the new format; those using smartphones probably for sure. Still to cater to all needs might make for a complicated editing job and probably cannot be automated easily. We shall see how this works. Will withhold final judgement until I get a taste.

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One of the reasons I subscribe to and love the newsletter is that you did not succumb to the idiocy of displaying part of a story then having to go to a website for the rest. I often read the newsletter on my phone. Flipping back and forth would be a problem and make it difficult to navigate. I also read in places where the Internet is not always available… Remote geography, airplane, etc. I have enjoyed reading the newsletter from top to bottom..usually in one seating. I am greatly saddened to see this great feature of your newsletter go away.

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I greatly prefer all articles in an email. I doubt I would continue subscribing if I have to go to a web site to read it.
Web based sites do nothing but serve ads, which often contain bandwidth hogging video, pop ups that block the article, and most annoying of all, videos with sound that automatically start playing.
Yes, I know you need ads to make money, but there may be a market for those of us who would be willing to pay to keep the email format.

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I am not sure what to make of these forthcoming changes, but I also far prefer a single emailed newsletter with everything in it. My subs come up for renewal next month, I am seriously considering dropping Windows Secrets. Since the launch of Windows 10 the focus of the newsletter is very much biased towards that and being unlikely to update to W10 in the near future there is very little of interest in it for me nowadays. Changes in the editorial team over the years has also moved it away from a prime source of information to just another ezine among all the other similar forums (largely free) and it in my view is no longer a ‘must have’. These format changes are probably the last straw.

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I am not sure what to make of these forthcoming changes, but I also far prefer a single emailed newsletter with everything in it. My subs come up for renewal next month, I am seriously considering dropping Windows Secrets. Since the launch of Windows 10 the focus of the newsletter is very much biased towards that and being unlikely to update to W10 in the near future there is very little of interest in it for me nowadays. Changes in the editorial team over the years has also moved it away from a prime source of information to just another ezine among all the other similar forums (largely free) and it in my view is no longer a ‘must have’. These format changes are probably the last straw.

Davews quote is word for word as though I had written it. I feel the same way. I miss old Editors. Susan is the only reason I am still with Windows Secrets. I will not upgrade to Windows 10. etc.!!!!

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I believe you would do well to send one or two of the new newsletters to us “freeloaders” to decide whether it is worth subscribing to the new, improved Windows Secrets.
I also did not see in the announcement how to subscribe, and if subscription is a set or voluntary amount.
Best of success to you, with or without me!

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I also did not see in the announcement how to subscribe, and if subscription is a set or voluntary amount

It took me ages to find out the subscription prices, but there are very few details about what you get for your money. Needs improvement.
http://windowssecrets.com/windows-secrets-subscriber-faq/#what-do-i-get-with-a-paid-subscription

cheers, Paul

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Alas, Babylon….I shall miss you.

Wish you the best as you build your business. That’s what ‘community’ is all about, right? Mo’ money?

Enjoy.

bem

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Alas, Babylon….I shall miss you.

Wish you the best as you build your business. That’s what ‘community’ is all about, right? Mo’ money?

Enjoy.

bem

I had to get down 4 paragraphs to find out everything I just read about the ‘new’ newsletter – will not be coming to me anymore (as an unpaid subscriber). Glad I never paid.
I figured the advertisements inserted into the newsletters were enough to pay for them – Guess Not! The information contained in the newsletters is not that valuable. Alas, You will lose one more ‘subscriber’ of your Newsletter.

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I too much prefer to have the whole articles in the newsletter.

Moreover, much of what Windows Secrets is about has to do with security, and I’m surprised in that context that you would consider it acceptable (let alone an improvement) to require people to click on links in an email in order to access website-based articles. I imagine there have been articles in the past expressly recommending people not to do just that no matter how trustworthy the apparent sender may be! I do think that aspect of your plans alone merits a rethink.

Is it a good thing to deny non-subscribers any access at all to your newsletter? That must clearly be a business decision for you alone, but I wonder how many subscribers based their decision to subscribe on the quality of what they had seen for free?

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R.I.P Windows Secrets, once one of the best sources of Windows information on the Net. It’s been going downhill since Brian left, only Susan and Fred are worth reading now. Instead of monetizing and asset stripping it, just give it a decent burial.

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I have been a paid subscriber for many many years and I also would like to see the current version of the newsletter stay intact, including the full articles, mainly for the convenience of downloading them to read offline.
I have newsletters downloaded from clear back to XP’s beginnings.
I remember when Brian started this newsletter and I started as a free subscriber and moved to paid subscriber because of the information value to me.
Hopefully you will rethink the changes you are proposing.

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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I echo WMRG, Mr Humbug, et al. I would really like you to reconsider not putting the full stories in our emails. Reading offline is really important to me and I’m sure many others. Perhaps there is a way to make it an option for those who prefer it. Thank you in advance for considering this.

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As a paid subscriber, I am pleased to be able to access more content from one central starting point.

I receive several newsletter-type emails a day in my Yahoo Mail Plus Account, and I do not need the whole article included in every mailing. I use links whenever a story seems to me to be interesting, and if the web version has further links, I follow those outwards until I feel I’ve read enough or I have the whole story complete in my mind.

As for security, I use Linux and a few good browser protections, along with App Armor and frequent OS and software updates. So I’m good with the changes.

I’ve never been married to one GUI, one OS or one way of presenting information on the screens I use. So it matters little to me exactly how or where the content comes from, as long as the landing pages are (mostly) free from ad clutter, load and transition properly, and contain useful content in a single page-view. (No slide shows, please!)

I trust The Lounge will continue as a place where users (paid and free) can hold discussions about articles, tech issues, or whatever we may discuss now in The Lounge.

All of this seems well worth the price of my annual contributions to Windows Secrets.

I too liked Brian’s Buzz very much. And LangaList Plus. I regularly look into Woody Leonhard’s postings at his own site (also undergoing a major face-lift right now) and at Infoworld.com. (Infoworld is an example of how NOT to run a web site for tech power-users!) All in all, this newsletter has been a gateway to a wealth of tech information and opinions which would not have been anywhere as easy for me to access without this Newsletter and Forum as my jumping-in points.

Thanks to all the editors and contributors for a great newsletter. I hope its next incarnation will be even greater, and I trust with this team in charge, it will be greater!

-- rc primak

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With the corporate buyout, I can’t say I’m surprised. Windows Secrets itself has grown by merging in other newsletters like Fred’s. And now it’s being absorbed into something else.
I also understand the reasons for moving the content online. Email is really old tech. But if this turns into an ad-serving platform, I won’t be impressed. At least could you have a single link to the whole newsletter as an option so we don’t have to click links for every single article?

I’ll reserve judgement and see where this goes. Then I’ll decide if I’ll renew next year.

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What are your plans for lifetime subscribers?

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I really wish you would reconsider. As a long time paid subscriber I’d much prefer the entire newsletter in the email. I really like to be able to read it while I’m not connected to the web. As someone mentioned… chasing stories all over the place is really bad.

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I found it quite quickly once I logged intosubscription preferences, see here.

As for the changes, well Ask Leo has been doing the same for quite a while now – it can be tedious as clicking on each link opens a new tab, so I get a lot of tabs to have to close. Maybe I’m doing something wrong though…

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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I didn’t log in – you have to register before you can find out how much it costs, hmm!

cheers, Paul

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I wonder if the various links we will have to click on will proxy us through Google? Seems like Windows Secrets was one of the last places you could go which wasn’t managed by Google.

Just saying…

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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The whole point is to drive traffic to the web site and therefore ads / tracking data.

cheers, Paul

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The whole point is to drive traffic to the web site and therefore ads / tracking data.

cheers, Paul

Yep, so good luck with that.

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I can’t understand why being part of a bigger company would improve the articles. As for changes in format, I assume it’s to cater to those whose life revolves around their phones. I’m seeing changes to all my favorite websites for the sake of making them more phone-friendly.

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I can’t understand why being part of a bigger company would improve the articles.

Did someone say it would?

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I generally prefer to lurk occasionally at the Lounge and just read. However, what I’ve read in the latest newsletter compelled me to sign in and share my thoughts.

I will start by saying that I have noticed more recent “unadvertised” Windows Secrets changes (perhaps subtle at times) in coverage and tone prior to the open declaration in the most current newsletter. It’s very hard to pinpoint the changes, but I’ll try my hand here: Things like saturation coverage of Windows 10 (the older WS newsletters would feature them, but only pick up in intensity after the readership has decisively switched loyalties) and de-emphasis of topics of relevance to desktop computers in favor of some random electronics (aside from the occasional foray and diversions which WS newsletters of old have done from time to time). I can’t say I care too much for them and lately, I found myself deleting newsletters more than I archive them.

With the open declaration on the latest newsletter, it looks like WS is unfortunately joining the many enthusiast or technology publications that I’ve had the pleasure to read in the past (and often was a paid subscriber as well). I’ve seen too many change focus and formats – ostensibly for the same or similar reasons. Not too long after, virtually all of them ended up losing even more relevance and some bit the dust outright despite making changes to avoid that. Revisiting some of the survivors later has more often than not left me feeling justified that I moved on.

As it looks like it is fait accompli, I wish Windows Secrets and its new iteration the best going forward. I have greatly enjoyed reading WS since Al Lowe (the humorist, talented musician and the man behind many of the early Sierra games) has introduced me to the newsletters in one of his CyberJoke e-mails. At the time, I wished I could’ve learned about the newsletter sooner. It was a pleasant surprise too to rediscover some of the authors that I have read before and enjoyed reading in those other publications.

While my paid subscription still runs through next year, I’ll stick around during the changes. But if recent steps are any indications, I won’t be holding my breath.

—

”I can’t understand why being part of a bigger company would improve the articles.”
Did someone say it would?

Well, from what I believe is a reasonable interpretation, Mr. Capen certainly implied it in this line: “Another reason for these changes is our integration into the Penton Technology group and its wider resources of news and information on personal and professional computing.”

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I’ve always read the newsletter online, never cared for the email version. I’ve also always skipped over the parts that don’t interest me or are just another take on something with which I am already well-versed. I’ll remain a subscriber until such a time as there is nothing presented that interests me, and then I’ll not renew.

I get far more useful information from The Lounge than I’ve ever gotten from the newsletter, which is not to say that I’ve not gotten any useful information from the newsletter, just that it pales in comparison to The Lounge by volume and specificity.

Here in The Lounge are some of the most knowledgeable folks you’ll ever likely meet all in one place. They might not be good at writing interesting tech articles, but they blow most everyone else away when it come to solving very particular tech problems.

The newsletter is just an aside for me, at a small fee, and as I said, I’ll stay until it no longer interests me.

Just keep The Lounge going! This is the real jewel.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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It would make sense to replace The Lounge with myITforum, which is what Supersite and Windows IT Pro uses…

http://myitforum.com/myitforumwp/

I am guessing you meant
http://www.myitforum.com/forums/default.aspx

Not really the same thing as WS lounge. Not very interesting at first glance. Different audience.

:cheers:

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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So when is the effective date of the change to all paid? And how much will it be? This article spent so much time trying to justify the pay-only format that you forgot to unambiguously answer these two questions. Nowhere did it say “this is your last free issue” so my first guess was that the change is in November, but on the other hand the phrase “going forward” could be interpreted as being effective immediately.

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I would like like add my dislike of the change whereby I have to go to a site to get a full article. While I know the purpose is to drive more traffic to the website, as far a I’m concerned I’m paying money for the the to be delivered to me. If I no have to go to you to get the data then the value I am getting will be less an therefore the amount I’m willing to pay is going to be greatly reduced.

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Canceled auto billing on this, will decide later but right now looks like I really no longer need this.

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The first time I clicked on the What’s New? link above, I expected to see…er, what’s new. You know, new articles and links to what’s trending, as in the newsletter at the moment. Not just links to the latest posts, which is under Quick Links anyway. After all, most people are regular visitors anyway.

Why not just do that? Then the newsletter could be sent to those who want to pay for it and read offline.

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The original link is the “front door” to myITforum…

The point being that it would make more sense for Penton to run one forum, rather than two.

It would not be difficult to incorporate the WSL sub-forums that are not duplicated on myITforum.

I don’t see the need, personally. The present forums are fine as they are, it’s the changes to the newsletter that most posters in this topic don’t much like.

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I just renewed my subscription recently, forgot about it for a while and just never got around to it until now.
It’s a worthwhile effort to me to support the lounge and the newsletter as a paid for contibution, even if I don’t read every issue all the time.

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I hope not, many are very comfortable right here.
:cheers:

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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I fear you are an optimist

:cheers:

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Progress is always good. Change is not always progress.

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And one man’s Progress is another’s Disaster.
:cheers:

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Resistance to changes may in the end prove futile, but at least it tests the changes and makes them prove their worth.

John Ciardi.

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Resistance is futile

The Borg (or is that MS?)

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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All of your base are belong to us.

Penton Technology?

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OK, Windows Secrets is being absorbed by “Penton Technology” (what the H is it?). This is good for the respective corporation. I resent the pretension to try and present it as a benefit to the subscribers of WS. It is not. I will see what is the cost of subscription, the contents, and if it is still worth while in spite of all the manipulations by the editors I will continue reading it

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It’s clear by page 4 that there are a number of regular supporters of the site that have reservations about the forthcoming changes, especially in relation to the decision to remove full articles from the newsletters.

Any chance of an official response to those concerns please?

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Most of the email newsletters I receive (like Thurrott’s, Microsoft, Redgate, etc.) are in the “article descriptions with links” format.

I can’t think of any besides Windows Secrets (that I get) that have “full articles”.

I don’t see that as a compelling reason to change it, not least given that the articles often deal with security matters and we are constantly told not to click on links in emails :)!

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Part of Penton…

I don’t expect the Windows Secrets columnists and staff to work for free.

Nor do I; I read Mr Langa’s article today about USB devices and immediately renewed my paid subscription.
Articles with that amount of detail and helpfully included associated links are well worth the small amount of money and everyone has to make a living.

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Oh I’m not worried as I don’t click on links anyway, and will access the articles from the site in accordance with good practice. I just think it’s a contradictory message to send out given the normal advice offered about links in emails.

Various regular supporters have given good reasons for retaining the full articles in the newsletters, it does seem to be the aspect of the changeover that causes the most concern, so it would be good to get an official response to that concern, or at least an acknowledgement of it.

I’ll carry on subscribing regardless, as the advice received here is always good. I have absolutely no concerns on that score!

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Oh I’m not worried as I don’t click on links anyway, and will access the articles from the site in accordance with good practice. I just think it’s a contradictory message to send out given the normal advice offered about links in emails.

Various regular supporters have given good reasons for retaining the full articles in the newsletters, it does seem to be the aspect of the changeover that causes the most concern, so it would be good to get an official response to that concern, or at least an acknowledgement of it.

I’ll carry on subscribing regardless, as the advice received here is always good. I have absolutely no concerns on that score!

I would have to disagree with your interpretation of the security of the links. There is nothing wrong in clicking links of emails sent from known, trusted sources. It just takes one second to verify if links are “valid” links.

I surely do not subscribe to a vision where email, a most valuable tool, is made much less useful due to the fear of malicious links. I have received a fair share of bogus email messages and one thing they all had in common – it was pretty obvious they were all bogus.

I subscribe to at least about a dozen technical newsletters and all have links, which I click every single time. If you want to add some more caution, get a security product that will monitor your internet browsing for malicious websites. Both security products I use do that.

So, in conclusion, I disagree completely with your assessment – the newsletter is not violating any relevant security advice by including only partial articles with links to the rest of the articles. Security doesn’t mean acting blindly, either through positive or negative action – it means considering thoughtfully every step you take.

This doesn’t mean that I am justifying the decision to remove full articles. I am just stating that I think your justification for the full articles presence is not sound enough in all but the most restrictive view on the usage of email, rendering it a much less useful tool than it should be.

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I would have to disagree with your interpretation of the security of the links. There is nothing wrong in clicking links of emails sent from known, trusted sources. It just takes one second to verify if links are “valid” links.

I surely do not subscribe to a vision where email, a most valuable tool, is made much less useful due to the fear of malicious links. I have received a fair share of bogus email messages and one thing they all had in common – it was pretty obvious they were all bogus.

I subscribe to at least about a dozen technical newsletters and all have links, which I click every single time. If you want to add some more caution, get a security product that will monitor your internet browsing for malicious websites. Both security products I use do that.

So, in conclusion, I disagree completely with your assessment – the newsletter is not violating any relevant security advice by including only partial articles with links to the rest of the articles. Security doesn’t mean acting blindly, either through positive or negative action – it means considering thoughtfully every step you take.

This doesn’t mean that I am justifying the decision to remove full articles. I am just stating that I think your justification for the full articles presence is not sound enough in all but the most restrictive view on the usage of email, rendering it a much less useful tool than it should be.

Thanks Ruirib. I quite understand your comment. However, there is just so much hacking and phishing going on these days that I do think it is best always to fall back on basic security precautions wherever possible, and relying solely on email links rather than allowing the reading of full articles within the email is a backward step in my view. We’ll obviously agree to disagree on that!

Others in this thread are, of course, giving different reasons for wanting the full articles in the newsletters to remain as existing, my comments have only reflected one aspect of the concern expressed over this change.

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+1
Just look at how many get emails ‘from their bank’ and click thru. Dress something up as a trusted source lookalike and reel ’em in..

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Note though that all the links in the newsletter go via Windows Secrets servers even for external ones. Whether you worry about WS (or Penton) tracking your activities is up to you.

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Will miss you, Windows Secrets. I already fell back to free after you got picked up by Penton. Funny story here: Penton picked up another old favorite and ruined it for me too. I used to subscribe to Windows IT Pro magazine. I could always count on having some interesting reading in the bathroom. (Not being facetious – good stuff to read, regardless of the location.) But Penton decided I should have it online – just like the paper one, except digital. Except it wasn’t. And if I had no Internet, I had no Windows IT Pro. So I had to let it go. They offered to extend my subscription, but I declined, and just asked for a refund of the unused subscription.
Now my old friend of over ten years, that still follows the rule into the “Brian Livingston” folder in my Outlook tree will stop showing those small blue numbers, indicating another issue has arrived, because you are “modernizing” and apparently plan to send new “issues” only to paid subscribers – except they will have to go online to see the content. But again, if you lose Internet connectivity, you no longer have the content, whether it’s temporary and unplanned, or possibly longer and planned. At least it didn’t happen immediately on the takeover, but, I let my paid subscription expire when Penton took over, expecting the worst. And, it appears, not incorrectly.

Windows Secrets, you will be missed.

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