Beware of the limited use of the Archive DVD
This is a warning to anyone who is interested in purchasing one of their Magazine Archive DVD or flash drive that you may not be able to always access your data.
I purchased the Magazine Archive DVD 1975-2012 years ago and have subscribed to the magazine ever since. I used the Archive to research articles that I missed since this is a relatively new hobby for me. $99 was a stretch for me, but I figured it would be a good reference for years to come.
My computer died that ran Windows 7, so I upgraded to a new computer with Windows 10 and it turns out that the Magazine Archive DVD doesn’t run on Windows 10 and there is no downloadable program to allow me to access the data on my new computer. The gentleman in support offered me a newer DVD up to 2019 for $35. I didn’t need the updated data since I have maintained a subscription since 2008.
I wasn’t notified that the DVD data that I had purchased was going to be limited to only 6-7 years before it would no longer be available.
Not a happy subscriber right now!!!
*editor’s note-I generally hesitate to lock threads, especially when it could be construed as censoring those critical of Fine Woodworking, but this one has gotten WAAAAY off topic and is no longer serving it’s intended purpose.
-Ben Strano
Replies
A couple of options. Dual boot with a partitioned hard drive. Boot in W7 for software like F.W. that won't run on W10--quite a p.i.t.a. to reboot just to view an archive.
A second, and better option is virtual software like VMware that simulates W7.
I hear you dabrown. If they're going to sell an archive, they need to support it. ...I can still get OEM parts for my 92 Benz.
I'm sorry, but I really don't get the outrage. How long are they supposed to m ake sure your archive functions? Just from Windows 7 to Windows 10? Windows 15? Should it still work 30 years from now in whatever computer platform you're using?
Back when operating systems were changing, radically, every two years, software frequently became unusable and required new versions. I think your gripe is with Microsoft making your stuff unusable, not Fine Woodworking.
When FWW put together your 2012 archive, they had absolutely no way to predict how future operating systems would function. Microsoft, however, knew what existing software needed to function, and chose to change that functionality in Windows 10.
And 35 bucks for a new archive with an additional 7 years of issues is a bargain.
To John_C2: If you ever wondered why this country has anti-monopoly laws, and Consumer Protection, and a requirement for honesty in advertising, you have just illustrated it. My workshop computer is very out-of-date, and I wouldn't dare take it on the web, but it works for me (Ever heard "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"?). I avoided all the tricks and traps the manufacturers of new hardware and software use to try to make us buy the same thing all over again.
My PC is circa 2006, and works just fine. When it can't do what I need it to do, I'll upgrade it. I obviously don't feel the itch to have the latest and greatest. But sooner or later, even if it doesn't break, it will be functionally obsolete. That's not a conspiracy. It's life.
What on earth do monopoly laws, consumer protection, and honesty have to do with this discussion?
Monopoly: When you have only 1 source, and that one source gets unreasonable about the price & terms, since there is no recourse. Consumer Protection: When the product is not as advertised, and/or doesn't work as advertised. Honesty: when there was a choice that included full disclosure and that was not the choice taken.
I sincerely hope you aren't advocating against honesty. I don't include FWW on this, but I believe a recent pope called it "Predatory Capitalism." Microsoft, and Intel, and Apple on the other hand ....
A full discussion of those 3 topics takes remembering your High School and College texts - or, hopefully, informed reading of non-fiction.
I gave up a subscription to a trade periodical I had followed for decades. The on-line version thye went to had proprietary software that was far to0 awkward and time-consuming to deal with. PDF would have worked for me. You-Tube and books will have to substitute for that subject.
It will be far harder to give up FWW - and I thought I had my "archives" to depend on, and the on-line access to tutorials, etc. But think how many people of this world don't have that, and those before the internet and cheap printing. I'll stumble along, if I have to. Hopefully, FWW and the other Tauton products will survive, too, but I think their odds went down, recently.
Monopolies exist, but Fine Woodworking sure isn't one. Its a business, and not a very big one. There are lots of other magazines out there, and a thousand other sources for woodworking knowledge.
If you think they are being dishonest, you aren't being honest with yourself. Please show me where they ever promised, or misled, anyone to believe that a disc or thumb drive would still work forever, no matter what changes would be made to computers or software. Its a laughable demand, and a childlike expectation.
The issue for me John_C2 is that I thought I was buying data that I could access, like having data that could be opened on a spreadsheet or a word document, etc. but instead they have a proprietary program to access that data and it fails to work on new versions of the OS. If I purchase Microsoft Office, I am told that it expires in one year and I will have to purchase another year of access to use the programs. Fine Woodworking sold me the access to the data without notifying me that there was going to be a limit to my access to it.
That's just my thoughts on the way I see it. No outrage, just disappointment and regret on the original purchase.
Thank you, Suburbanguy for the helpful tips. I will attempt to give the VMware a try.
If you go the virtual machine route check out VirtualBox - https://www.virtualbox.org/ . It is a free and open source alternative to VMWare. I agree with your outrage. You shouldn't have to do this. At the very least, they should offer a $5 upgrade.
Another Taunton magazine, Fine Cooking, has archive software that is also searchable. While the software (search capability) may become obsolete with changes in operating system, the PDF's of each magazine are contained in one of the files on the DVD. If you simply want the archive, this should be available on the F.W. archive by searching the file structure of the DVD and copying the PDF.s to an easily accessed file.
I'm not a Windows expert but, my understanding is that W10 has a mode for running older software. You might check into that.
The Compatibility feature in Win 10 has solved 99 out of 100 problems for me. It sometimes takes a few "run as" tests to find the one that works but, after that the program launches under that version going forward until changed.
Right click the program's icon, select Properties and select the Compatibility tab.
It is interesting that FWW chose something that would be tied to operating system in the current place we are in history. Many of us have been "browsing" since the early 90's. What year is it again?
Install your archive onto a mapped drive, such as on a NAS (network attached storage). It's there forever. Just link to the executable file from your next OS. Works for my tablets and workstations, regardless of OS.
Modes of selling information consumables are queer things in this post-modern world. Once one bought information as a hard physical thing, such asd book or paper magazine. Now we are induced to buy less-hard information items such as a PDF or even just access to a streamed thing that will disappear if & when the stream dries up.
There's an inevitable commercial pressure from The Great Accountant behind the socio-economic curtain to move information "goods" into packages that are: temporary; not-transferable (or even lendable); rented rather than sold objects.
I don't blame FWW for the issue the OP describes because it's a consequence of Microsoft, not FWW, machinations in the market - as another has said. But I am suspicious that the digital issues of the magazine I am paying $99.99 a year to buy are not downloadable except in rare instances. When the year is up, I will have to pay another $99.99 to retain access to those magazines.
On the other hand, most of the articles in the magazines that I might want to re-read and therefore keep are available as downloadable PDFs.
But not the videos.
The creeping rentier! Soon they will own everything and the other 99.999% of the population must pay the rents. Before long the oxygen will be annexed by an entrepreneur and woe betide those without sufficient dollars to rent their needs. They already do it with the water.
Lataxe, wittering on.
Dabrown-
I understand your frustration. I've been bitten by added costs of upgrades many times. The problem is that the 64-bit version requires a complete rewrite of the software, so it isn't realistic to make versions for every year, and then distribute them accordingly. In my past profession, I was forced to spend hundreds on software upgrades that added no functionality. Your $35 upgrade adds seven years worth of magazine to your archive.
Anyone knows if this is still the case with the USB archive (1975-2020 ?)
I'm going to weigh in- As a computer engineer, developing hardware and software my entire life, your right, the data you purchased should be usable. When developing hardware, there is a look back period where you have to support. Finewoodworking should have a product manager that can manage to move that data over to something compatible and "no," you shouldn't have to repurchase what you have already purchased. When dealing with file formats, every engineer in tech has had to "backward" compatible products regardless. I suggest you send a message to fine woodworking informing them of the compatibility issue and ask for the "work around" or as them to replace the information for the new format, at no charge. Cheers
I had the same problem, with the archive gathering dust for years, I think the problem is the installer program from your windows 7 install, I couldn’t find it to delete and start again so I installed it to a second thumb drive and it works fine.
December 2020 I purchased a new computer with Windows 10.
On January 21, 2121, I finally installed the FWW Archive 1975 - 2012 as I needed to look through an older issues. Program worked perfectly.
It is an inescapable fact that technology is always advancing, sometimes at the expense of backwards compatibility. While I feel for your plight I think your wrath towards FW is misguided, after all no one offered to replace my 8-track collection when cassettes became the rage or my cassettes when they were replaced by DVDs technology simply keeps advancing and we simply must adapt. Hopefully one of our more tech savvy, and probably younger, I fear I dated myself admitting to owning 8-tracks, posters methods will work for you.
FYI, I recently ran into the same problem, only with a Mac, not Windows. It seems that the FW Archive I purchased a few years ago is incompatible with MacOS Big Sur, which dropped support for all 32-bit applications (actually, I think the change happened with the previous version, Catalina). Anyway, if call Taunton, they will sell you an updated version (program + archive) for about $20. I decided it was worth it to me.
I have been told the whole point of PDF is compatibility, across platforms and Operating Systems, and in spite of "upgrades". Sorry, all you apologists out there, but this isn't right. You don't buy a product like the FW Archive to use only for a given moment in time. It says "Archive", not Ephemeral. I do copy to a USB drive, or my hard drive - back-up is more than just reasonable, it is a requirement of the computer age.
There were/are ways to transfer my vinyl records to CDs and DVD and the hard drive. We aren't all geeks and hacks to find back doors and work-arounds.
Nor do we all have the money to spend on full collections, yearly, to keep up.
My house is too small for complete paper collections of all the magazines I use, for work and recreation. A digital versions just makes sense, and for ease of use, too. When Apple iTunes software changed, about version 10/6, the next version had the "translator" for the new edition of "iTunes. I didn't have to re-load about 800 CDs.
Libraries no longer can afford the space and money to maintain magazine collections. There no longer a Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature to index for us. I'll gladly pay for an Archive - if I can use it in the future.
Maybe, for honesty, FW (and the others in the company) need to advertise honestly. Example: this archive is only good for 3 years or the next Windows or Mac operating system, which ever comes first.
What do you expect Taunton Press to know about what might happen in the computer world several years, or decades, down the road? Should they make software that will work on any possible operating system and hardware combination for the next 50 years? A true "archive," after all, should be usable for my great grandchildren, right?
If the electric company changes from AC to DC power delivery, should I expect Jet to send me a new lathe so it will work with the new power supply?
Between 2 and 3 decades ago, computer hardware and software change constantly. We all had to upgrade constantly, buying new hardware and software every couple of years or so, or they were unusable. For the last 15 or so years, changes were more minor. You can get away with using a 15 year old PC or Mac for many things. But eventually, they evolve enough where we have to change, or be left on the outside.
I think if you have a beef, you should be demanding that whoever makes your hardware and operating system makes sure you can continue to use your old software. Demanding that the makers of Zork supply you with rewritten software that will function on your brand new iPad is just unreasonable.
JC2,
As KasilofLeif made clear, Taunton have the option of using the PDF format to publish their product electronically and in fact do so; but only for some of the "archival" content. The archive DVDs and similar are basically the addition of some simple database-management software that access the PDF main data items. As KL says, PDF was invented (and still stands) as an archival long-term, backwards compatible format for containing information.
There is nothing to stop Taunton making ALL of their content sold to us as archival available in PDF format. But they don't. Why, for example, do those of us outside the US not have access to the magazine in PDF form, as each new issue comes out? They used to make it available as such. When they don't provide we external-to-the-US consumers with a permanent paper copy (which they don't) yet still charge us the full whack for "unlimited" access - this is annoying and bad-faith marketing.
Anyway, Taunton could easily commission a small software pack to perform the database searching function on their PDF content that will work across all O/S. It exists on the web service (after a fashion) and should be easily portable to a similar data management facility that could be installed on user's local machines, so they don't have to log on to the website.
Your analogy with items like electricity supply voltages and woodworking machines is a poor one. Physical things are not like software things. The latter are virtual and far easier to adopt in, and adapt to, different environments. What's lacking is simply the will to give good customer service.
The core issue is that Taunton seem to have farmed out their data management and publishing services instead of keeping them in-house along with the data-generation function. Such outsourcing is generally a recipe for a degraded service at a higher cost - to the customers, naturally, as we are the service consumers as well as the source of all income.
Too easy for Taunton to shrug and blame the publishing service provider, technical difficulties and other factors that they're supposedly in overall control of.
Lataxe
Software things rely on physical things. They need hardware. And they need OTHER software, which allows them to run in the first place. A software designer has no control of those outside things, hardware and software, upon which they rely. And to expect and demand they do so is ludicrous.
And please stop about the wonderfulness of Adobe Acrobat. Over the years I have had several times when pdfs made with the latest iterations of Acrobat will no longer work with older versions of the program. Each time, I have had to purchase new versions of the program, or lose the ability to access new content. Sound familiar?
Of COURSE Taunton hires someone to write their software. And maintain their website. What business can do all that in-house?
What it boils down to is some people wanting to eat their cake and have it too. Its computer software. At some point it will no longer work. That's the nature of technological change. At some point I won't be able to buy new knives for my thickness planer, either, and will be faced with the decision to buy a new one.
As for overseas subscribers, I know nothing about it, and have nothing to add.
A software designer has plenty of control over the degree to which things he or she creates now will be compatible with later things. This is the whole purpose of open-standard stuff such as that found throughout the web and many stand-alone software packages. Open-standard software designs are the inoculation against proprietary future innovations of precisely the kind that make obsolescent what needn't be.
Acrobat PDF is a very good example indeed, since every new and free Acrobat PDF reader can read PDFs from long ago. Other good examples are legion, including jpeg for images and dozens of internet protocols.
Taunton has the core of its information product available as a set of open-standard items, in jpeg, PDF and (if it wished) whatever is used for video on it's website. (Streaming is just a presentation option, not a file-handling option).
Why are you defending the selling of products made obsolescent when they are being sold as "an archive"? If Taunton want to pursue the "you're only renting it for as long as we'll allow or support it" model they should be explicit and honest about that.
But if they are just renting it all now, I won't be paying them for much longer.
Lataxe
As you state, "Acrobat PDF is a very good example indeed, since every new and free Acrobat PDF reader can read PDFs from long ago." But the reverse is NOT true. An old copy of Adobe Acrobat cannot read pdf files created by new versions of Adobe Acrobat.
That's what you are demanding Taunton provide. That a ten year old version of their software be able to function on something brand new and different. It just simply doesn't work that way. I've got a box of Commodore and MS DOS programs sitting around somewhere that says so.
Should I have demanded that my archive work when I bought an Android based system?
Taunton did not make anything obsolete. If you have a 2012 computer and OS, you can continue using that 2012 archive until we all turn to dust. Microsoft and Apple may have made the software obsolete when they changed THEIR software. If you have a beef, it's with them. Or blame yourself, buying a new computer and/or software, and expecting everything will still work. Computers and software have never, ever worked that way. It's childish for you to believe they will, or should.
JC2,
Firstly, Adobe don't sell the Acrobat reader - it's free. Why would you want to read old PDF files with old PDF reader software when the new reader will read them all and for free?
Secondly, Adobe don't sell or rent you any data or information file content, in providing either the PDF format or the reader of it. Taunton sell us information content. Sell, not rent - or so we thought. And not for free.
Thirdly, software providers of merely licensed (i.e. rented) stuff provide it honestly on that basis, not as a permanent archive in the same fashion as a book, physical picture or other data construct that can be archived. For example, I pay £17:95 per year to Ordinance Survey Maps for all of their maps of the British Isles as well as the means to access it in all kinds of ways. They make it clear I'm renting that; but provide a means to buy it too albeit not for £17:95.
Taunton has sold their information constructs both as archivable paper (the physical magazine) and archivable electronic constructs (PDFs). If they want instead to sell it as merely licensed or rented information, this should be made absolutely explicit when they sell it.
If I'm paying for information, I want that information in exchange for my money, not just for a limited period, with no right to look at it after the expiry of a license to access.
This is the normal Taunton model, as with the magazine. If they're changing that to a rent-it only style, this should be made clear and words such as "archive" should not be used to describe it.
******
In some degree, the issue doesn't arise. We can all still download and read much of the Taunton archive as PDFs of various magazine articles - but not all of it, particularly the magazine itself (or the more recent issues of it at least). Moreover, Taunton sold their DVDs with the search software as "an archive" which (I am arguing) gives them the duty of updating the means of access to that archive.
**********
It's no good calling names such as "childish" just because someone disagrees with you. If you can't make a calm & cogent refutation, don't enter the argument.
Lataxe
Why do you insist that the software Taunton sells should function on any future machine and operating system, no matter what? Name me one other piece of software that does that? It doesn't exist.
A CD, DVD, or thumb drive of Fine Woodworking Magazine is software. It can't possibly work on every machine in the future. They never claimed it would, and only a child would stamp their feet and demand that it be so.
They have done nothing to deprive you of the use or utility of the product you purchased, for example a 1975 to 2012 magazine archive. They promise it will work on a particular operating system when you purchased it. Keep your computer and OS, and it will work forever. Change one of those things, and accept the consequences. Don't expect them to foot the bill.
Continue being obdurate if you wish, but I have no desire to engage with you further.
Adobe is a bad example for what's good in the software world. They are one of many that have moved to a subscription model. I used to buy every other version of Photoshop to use in the studio... now you can't buy the program, only rent it through a subscription. Also, I'd be forced to pay for a "plan" that includes tonnage of software that I do not want and will never use.
They moved to the ski resort model; You are forced to pay for a lift ticket covering 67 miles of trails even though you and your kids will be on a 1/2 mile strip of the bunny slope all day.
I'll be using my purchased copy Photoshop CS6 for the rest of my career and it will satisfy my needs just fine.
I hate the whole subscription model. I also use CS6 for the same reason.
Everyone wants to bill you monthly, rather than just sell you something. We should be glad we can still buy a magazine archive with decades of content. One day, it will only be available through continued monthly charges.
MJ,
I admit that I too was initially annoyed by the move from selling to renting with Adobe software. However, renting Lightroom & Photoshop (for $10 per month) actually works out less expensive than having to buy the new Photoshop and Lightroom used to when it was sold as a stand-alone application. I reckon I now pay, via renting it, less than the cost of buying it every three years as a standalone application - and I always have immediate access to the software upgrades, not to mention endless other associated options at no extra cost if I want them.
Moreover, Adobe software doesn't stop me archiving my photos as they were edited in their software. One doesn't pay for any data when renting Photoshop; or lose any data when ceasing to rent Photoshop or Lightroom.
Well, other than one's Lightroom catalogue schema. It is a legitimate criticism of Adobe that there is no means (as far as I know) of preserving one's Lightroom Catalogue Schema, describing and locating our photos on a hard disc, when ceasing to rent Lightroom.
*****
I'm dead against the renting of data content, unless there's also a buy option. A real option - possibility - rather than a merely theoretical one available only to the very rich. Sometimes it's convenient to rent and sometimes we want to own.
I don't want to just rent Fine Woodworking Magazine. I was under the impression, from the website blurb, that I was still buying it.
Lataxe
To defend Tauton, it is not a giant firm, not even a big firm. Of course they "farm" out the software for the Archives. My son's a database programmer, his salary is not anywhere near market average due to working for a charity. The downside is what Tauton orders those software techs to do - which may be what they can afford. Thanks, Jon_C2, Lar_Ax, and _MJ_.
I had no idea PDF (Adobe_ has gone to a subscription model. Unless the free reader stays free, I'll have to kiss them goodbye. Same for MS Office. When it's no longer supported, I'll go to Pages & Numbers, etc.,An open-software version of an "Office) and depend on anti-malware and a VPN.
I'm almost willing to bet that someone will develop and Port software that avoids the issue. My Grandkids grew up on Pajama Sam - it was inaccessible for at least a decade, now it's been ported over to the newer Mac OS, so the Grands get to learn computers & have safe fun. Why not Tauton?.
My computers are old - a Late 2013 and a 2010 and a 2008. I have bad Internet, and have to take them to town to update to the new programs - using the Grand-daughter's fast internet that's without "throttling". If & when I can afford it, those get replaced - but kept for the older, compatible software. My ISP can't be used on subscription cloud-based programs.
Please, Oh please Tauton! Don't go to the Cloud!
I really want my archive, I use it, and I want the FWW exclusive-website-exclusive benefits. But if Tauton goes to subscription-only, keep the newest Archive that works for me, and go with only paper magazines. ANd drop my subscription if they go paperless.
BenStrano. Sorry. Your answers and offers are reasonable, but not sure they answer for the future.
Everybody on this Blog/Forum. Thank you for your ideas and solutions and participation.
Signed: Stranded in Alasaka with poor internet: KasilofLeif. (Kasilof is on the road system, but unincorporated).
Lataxe, you can make your own judgements as to value, and value added, for me running my business it is about far more than the money spent.
When they made Lightroom a defacto-default for organizing images was the first indication that they no longer cared about the Pro market. Having to work to go around that POS bloatware wasted some time I'll never get back. Time well spent as my system for organizing thousands of image files does not depend on my payment info being up to date with Adobe. The LR "upgrade" was the setup for the subscription model you are now stuck with. I am not.
Offer me a download plan for the software I need and use, OK... saving the cost of physical media and selling me a license code might make sense. Access to endless options should you want them is no more value than the theoretical access to the triple black diamond runs up top.
My choice was not to become a hostage, and you are effectively renting your own data.
It would certainly be preferable if Adobe and other such software suppliers offered a buy-it as well as a rent-it option. It's a creeping business move for many organisations to go rent-it only, following their not dissimilar previous move of selling only a license to use, not to own.
There has been a legal battle in Europe for a while, now resolved (sort of) that prevents sellers of licensed software from making it buyer-exclusive, as in "you aren't allowed to sell it or give it to someone else when you've done with it". In theory, we ARE allowed to pass no longer wanted software to another. However, in practice there seem to be many stumbling blocks.
But I digress.
My concern (and I presume yours) is that Taunton seem to be creeping (intentionally or by accident) towards the rent-it model. They seem to be in some sort of confused state, as a lot of their content is available as open-standard PDF that can be downloaded and owned by the user, even though re-selling it is verboten. The print magazine is also an old-fashioned paper thing, that can be resold or given away and no one bothers about that.
Their "archive" DVDs and , now, USB keys are something of a bodge, in that the content is PDF but the access software is not a similar open-standards thing but some sort of proprietory software.
Personally I'm not too bothered that my "archive" DVD will no longer work if I move to Windows 10 or otherwise find the DVD access software will no longer function. I still have the magazine PDFs from that disc. But many buyers of those DVDs will not realise that those PDFs are there.
JC2 thinks an archive that becomes defunct because of technology changes is OK. I don't agree as that DVD "archive" was sold as such. Either it's a forever product or its not. It was (and still is) sold as the former - a forever product. That's what an "archive" is.
But my major concern is with the creeping rentier mode of selling.
Consumers outside of the USA can no longer buy the printed magazine. It's not exported because ...... trade wars? Or the cost overheads are too great? Or is it a first step to the renting model?
I suspect the rent-only mode is on its way because the most recent issues of FWW magazine are only available - to us all - in electronic format via the web magazine viewer. There is no PDF downloadable magazine available.
This means that if we cease paying the $99 per year, we no longer have access to those issues of the magazine. We were only renting that access. No rent paid to Taunton, no more access.
It may just be a Taunton glitch, as they still offer articles from those very same magazines as downloadable PDFs.
So, which selling model are they wanting to establish? Sell, as previously; or rent?
Lataxe
I am not concerned with Taunton's business model, and I have been blissfully unaware of the lack of print copies to the rest of the world. My map has whirlpools and seamonsters on it once you get 2oo miles from NYC anyway...
Having fought (and won) copyright battles over the years I can fill in a few points:
When you buy a magazine you are not the new owner of the content, just a "licensed user". That license can be transferred by giving or selling the physical magazine to another person. The copyright holder gets one fee for each copy sold and one license holder exists for each copy. Not quite fair, because there are now two consumers, but fair enough to ignore. (Hopefully the new owner of the issue will make use of one of the 20 subscriber postcards inside.)
Now if you decided to make a copy or scan of the issue for another user without paying another license fee you are infringing, and effectively stealing a license from the copyright holder because the additional user is able to acquire the material illegally. Sending a PDF article to a buddy is infringing, but not on a level worth chasing down. If you started adding the PDFs in any volume to your own blog site you'd hear from a lawyer I'm sure.
Your suggestion of making the latest issue of any publication available as a downloadable, open source PDF is ridiculous. The ability to send the latest issue as a PDF to every member of a woodworking guild or club with a few keystrokes is the fastest way to insure that Fine Woodworking will cease to exist.
The "membership model" that Taunton is using is a way to chop the baby in half. As a member you can access all content and download much of it. As a non-member you can browse the free website and your "license fee" comes in the form of the advertisements displayed to you.
You DO have to wait a bit for the latest issues to be added to the online archive, but that is a VERY small price for the continued existance of the whole shebang.
We have become accustomed to everything on the web being free, and you could probably find much of the FW content in other forms in other places if you were willing to put in the time and effort. We are paying Taunton to create and curate content and supply that time and effort.
The discussion has drifted to copyright and I thought I'd share a little factoid. Copyright owners like to complain about file/music sharing, illegal downloads, etc. ...and China produces many counterfeit products In the 1800's, it was the U.S. that was ripping off other countries. The U.S. had very weak or perhaps unenforced copyright laws and publishers were routinely reprinting British books that had been licensed for printing in the U.S. Perhaps the authorized publishers were only paying royalties on a small number of the copies sold or maybe only on the first edition. I don't know the complete details. Consequently, Charles Dickens refused to grant printing rights for at least some of his later books to American publishers. I guess everything that goes around, comes around.
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