ASCII, a monthly magazine, noticed that people in their 20s are over.

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Hisashi Kobayashi ASCII Brand Senior Director (Azuki Editorial Department published by the former moon)

　"Since the monthly ASCIY launched, just 40 years have passed, so I should write something !!"

　The fluffy command came down from Miya's editor -in -chief.Umm.

　I was assigned to the ASCII editorial department in my 20s, around 2003-2005.Just the editor -in -chief is the timing of replacing Yasuo Ishizaka.The period is about three years.I felt it was long, but now it's pretty short ...

It may have been a tough time for PC magazines

　What kind of era was that time?Broadbands became popular at a stretch with ADSL, which started around 2000, and in Japan, it entered the flow like Dotcom Bubble → Web 2.0.At the same time, a world where you can connect to the Internet with a mobile phone at hand, and some information home appliances have adopted the mechanism of the personal computer exactly as they are.It is also the time when early SNS such as Mixi also started up.It was a time when the device called a computer and the service for that changed significantly.

　However, the IT industry was a momentary period, and it was difficult for magazines like monthly ASCII.Fascinating new products and new technologies for it come out one after another, and the more they do the contents, the more they sell, so it is harder to pass the way before that, and the editors make magazines while hesitation.I think it was.

　It must have been the next "big change" operation period.Industry interests have been shifting from hardware and package software to online services.Overseas, music distribution of "Gmail" and "iTunes Store", which is invited, has begun, but "Google Map", "Facebook", and "Twitter" are still ahead, and cloud services are "ASP" and "SaaS".It was when I was called.

　The appearance of "iPhone" and "Android", which triggers these services, is a few years ahead of that.

　At that time, the editorial department just moved from Hatsudai to Shinano -cho station building.I walked around the pedestrian bridge in front of the station and walked around Jingu Gaien.Actually, this pedestrian bridge is a spot that appears many times in an important scene of a certain animated movie, and in the meantime, the Cafe La Boem of Shinjuku Gyoen, who stopped by while walking all night, is the place where the protagonist is part -time.That's it.Even after 12 o'clock, it was a store that flew to wireless LAN, which was unusual at the time, so it was convenient for editors like me.

　It is usually a place where the manuscript was boiled down and escaped.In the editorial department at that time, insane things often happened, but when I watched the movie, I couldn't concentrate on it because the memories of those days were revived (laughs).

8 Bit aircraft, and to ASCII after being baptized by MSX

　I learned about ASCII in 1982.Relatives (uncle) are in the neighborhood Daiei (surprising now), buying Fujitsu's "FM8" and placing "Monthly ASCII" and "FM-8 Program Library" (books with tape) right next to it.There was.

　The purpose of buying a computer is a hobby, a game, a job, and a variety of people, but it is time for ordinary people to buy 8 -bit PCs.MSX came to my home in 1984.

　I can't understand the content of the monthly ASCII at all, and if I say that it seems to be ASCII, I think of the "login" and "MSX magazine" of the computer game that I started reading later.The image of Monthly ASCII is a "difficult magazine" with somehow academic.In my uncle's room, there was also a scientific magazine "Newton".(I don't really know), the public may have been recognized in the same row as science magazines that were attracting attention at the time.

　By the way, Miya's editor -in -chief came to the editorial department of the monthly ASCII just at this time, and at first he used a Fujitsu computer to transplant the program (at that time, the program written in the same BASIC).However, there was a dialect -like difference between models and manufacturers, and it was necessary to fix it.In FM8, we played simple games such as fleet commander and master mind, but this program may have been transplanted in that way.

After the start of the monthly ASCII ...

　I think many readers have a mania or geeky image when it comes to ASCII.Actually, there are many such people, and there are many weird people, so I think it's probably correct.

　However, shortly after moving to the ASCII editorial department, I was told that "the aim of not being a hobby was the difference between monthly ASCII and other magazines."

　In 1977, when the monthly ASCII's founding magazine, the monthly ASCIY, was announced in the United States.Apple II is a model that can be said to be "the first computer in the world", so the history of ASCII will overlap the process of changing the world as it is.

　The first issue has the famous word "separation with hobby".Looking at the monthly ASCII at the time of the launch, the subjects we are dealing with are machine translation, voice recognition, artificial intelligence, and computer crimes.You can see that it was almost the same as in the 21st century we were seeing.

　There is a surprise, but from a different perspective, it takes 40 years to make these technologies and concepts a reality even in the IT industry, which is so fast.The period that cannot be realized even if there is an idea has been a period of decades, and it seems to be a typical example of what I want to do but impossible (even when it has been more than 25 years since its launch).I did it.

　The reason that personal computers really became widespread is that ordinary people have been contacting each other by email or SNS, and it has become a communication tool for exchange information.As a result, breakthroughs occurred because PCs around the world were connected to the Internet, gathering vast information and data, and being able to handle them freely.

　I was in the monthly ASCII when I was just trying to create a base.The decisive piece was missing, and it was the timing before it changed.However, under the surface of the industry, the conditions for changing were starting to steadily aligned.If you think so, it's a bit deeply moved.

月刊アスキー創刊40周年号はASCII Clubでお読みいただけます

About the reprint

The monthly ASCII reprint version is reproduced as it is, and advertisements are also recording as it is a hand that knows the computer industry at the time.In addition, the address and contact information in articles and advertisements are deleted to prevent misuse.We hope you can use it after understanding.

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