One of the legends of the IT industry, tantric guru, and the inventor of the cynical red-top tech tabloid, Mike Magee, has died at the age of 74.
Magee started his career as a printer before working for VNU Business Publications on PC Dealer and then at their IT news venture, VNU Newswire. This was where I met him; his effective method proved a handful for his editors.
His technique was simple: He would disappear for most of the day and somehow write the lead story. If needed, he could be found in one of Soho’s nearby waterholes. If you were a good editor you learnt not to interfere.
He left the Newswire and co-founded The Register, the UK’s first Internet-based IT tabloid, with John Lettice in 1994. Magee focused on computer chip reporting in the newsletter, and Lettice covered software.
“We realised the chip industry was worth about $200bn a year then, and we were down the pub one day and said, ‘Why don’t we do a newsletter because we can and this is a big, big market, and nobody else seems to be doing much about it,” Magee said.
The Register used the slogan “Biting the Hand That Feeds IT” to reflect its iconoclastic attitude, attracting a following among IT professionals and investors.
In December 2000, Magee suffered a heart attack and died on the operating table only to revive and being told that he would have to do the same operation in ten years (he didn’t). When he returned to work, he stated publicly that he disagreed with the editorial direction of The Register.
He left to found The Inquirer, which reflected the original editorial philosophy. Unlike The Register, which received a lot of investment, The Inquirer received little financing but managed to make a profit. Magee was the only full-time employee. The entire magazine was based on freelance submissions, and staff and advertising were outsourced. Many technology journalists who got their start at the INQ owe something to Mike.
In 2006, Magee met with VNU leaders over their alleged use of a web layout similar to that of The Inquirer. Later that year, Magee sold The Inquirer to VNU. He remained as editor of The Inquirer until February 2008, when he left to pursue other publishing ventures, including TechEye and ChannelEye. He joined Fudzilla as Editor-at-Large in July 2016.
In 2009 the Daily Telegraph placed Magee 35 in its list of Top 50 most influential Britons in technology.
