Bobby Pickering

It’s been a great privilege to have edited Information World Review for these past three years, and stirring times they have been. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reporting on the many different strands of the soap opera that is the global information industry.

In the STM market, Euro challengers like Springer and Wolters Kluwer have regrouped as Elsevier has sailed grandly on with its cash registers ringing.

The open access movement made an impact, but not as much as I expected. It will undoubtedly continue to be corrosive, as the rivals parry and thrust over the big pot of gold to be made from publicly funded research. Government committees have become involved and hearings have been held, in the US, UK and Europe ­- all very exciting stuff!

But that high political drama was entirely different to the bare commercial fist-fighting in the information management market where IBM, the Big Blue bruiser, is emerging triumphant over EMC Documentum and the amorphous mass of OpenText/Hummingbird/RedDot.

In other parts of the forest ­ particularly the news aggregation and business information arenas ­ the internet has been a savage new predator. Google’s giant advertising machine aims to create an online world where information is accessed free, and advertising is delivered based on search terms.

It’s an onslaught that will inevitably and inexorably trash the current business models of the information industry ­ few companies have developed credible long-term strategies in the face of the monstrous advance.

Unlike that great soap opera, Dallas, it may not be too difficult to guess in a few years time: “Who shot the information industry?” The smoking gun has Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page’s prints all over it.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who has supported me over the years, given me advice, taken me to lunch, or offered great ideas for the magazine. Thank you, one and all. It has been fantastic.

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