Holiday Wishes and Thank-Yous

You can send us e-mail in the meantime, but don't expect a quick response. In fact, to ensure better response, and lower the chances of your e-mail accidentally getting deleted in a massive spam purge on our first day back, it's probably better to hold off on e-mail until then. I, for one, don't look forward to spending the better part of a day responding to 832 e-mails.

Note that we won't be blogging during our time off, so this is probably the last one you'll get this year.

Let me spend a little time here thanking everyone involved in this magazine for a successful first year of publishing. Starting a new print publication in the IT market is a daring undertaking (some might say foolhardy). But Editor in Chief Doug Barney and Publisher Henry Allain saw the tremendous potential in the virtualization space, and wanted to go beyond just a new Web site. The Web site, of course, is crucial to our mission, but most of us come from the old school, where we like to hold something in our hands. And although you can hold a laptop, it's just not the same (and harder to read in the bathroom!)

It was Henry and Doug's vision that brought this magazine to life, and their determination to make it a great publication that keeps it going. We published our first issue last March, and for the first two issues, the March/April and May/June, Doug was a tremendous help in writing stories. We had very little freelance help for those two, as he and I wrote most of the copy. One key reason is that we wanted to educate ourselves about this thing called virtualization, and nothing gets you up to speed faster than writing story after story. Keep in mind that Doug had all his other duties, as Editorial Director of our publishing group, to attend to while he was cranking out mountains of copy for Virtualization Review. The man is a machine, plain and simple.

Last April, we hired Tom Valovic as Executive Editor. Tom had a great background for the gig, both as a former journalist, then as an analyst. An emerging market like virtualization needed someone like Tom. You can see from his writing, both in the magazine and his blog, that he was the right guy.

One of the very best things about the magazine is how it looks. That is completely due to the brilliance of our two chief art guys, Creative Director Scott Shultz and Art Director Brad Zerbel. I'm blown away, every single issue, by the work they do. They can't see me, but I'm doing a Wayne's World-style "I'm not worthy!" pantomime in their direction right now.

Our production staff is just as good. I can't say enough about Managing Editor Wendy Gonchar and Associate Managing Editor Katrina Carrasco, who make us hit our deadlines, and keep the ship on course and the trains running on time. It simply doesn't happen without them.

There are many writers to thank too, including columnists Chris Wolf, Danielle Ruest and Nelson Ruest, former columnist Greg Shields and a host of others. You make my job much easier.

Finally, the biggest thanks of all go to you, the readers of this blog, and the magazine. We simply don't exist without your support. I am truly honored to serve you, and look forward to a great 2009. See ya next year.

Posted by Keith Ward on 12/18/2008 at 12:48 PM