The final curtain | Bangkok Post: tech

'Post Database' founder and former Editor Tony Waltham recalls the genesis of 'Database' and pays tribute to its team of reporters, sub-editors and outside contributors in this farewell message to readers as the weekly section will now follow him into "retirement".

Sadly, this is the last issue of Post Database, the weekly pullout section of the Bangkok Post that had its genesis in February 1987, almost 24 years ago. Since then, and every week since the beginning of 1989, Database has kept Bangkok Post readers up-to-date with news about the rapid and remarkable growth of the Information Technology industry, both around the world and here in Thailand.

With this farewell note, which, I should add, is written some two years after my own retirement from the newspaper, I would like to thank everyone who made the section possible in the early years: those who have supported and encouraged us all along, starting with our readers, but not overlooking the news sources, the IT companies, both the advertisers and those whose activities gave us news to report and products to review, as well as the public relations officers who also supported us for all these years.

I would also like to give credit to the state agencies that have done so much to promote Thailand's IT research, drive product development and draft laws and standards: the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec) along with the Software Park. And may I also single out Dr Pairash Thajchayapong, Dr Thaweesak Koanantakool and Dr Rom Hiranpruk and praise them for their significant contributions over the years.

One of the keys to the success - and popularity - of the Post Database section has been input from outside contributors, writers who have been on the front-line of technology and who wrote regular articles to enlighten our readers.

From the very first issue, when we had a single staff reporter, the dynamic Suchitra Kovitwanichkanont (who is now with Cisco Systems), I had turned to outside contributors to provide additional comments, reviews and insights.

A full list of these correspondents would be too long to reproduce here, but James Hein has to be at the top, with over 20 years of weekly columns - yes, and that's at least one column every week, and without missing a beat. That is dedication for you, and this has been coupled with his rich and timely insights, of course.

Then there is Wanda Sloan, with almost as long a track record with her software reviews, opinions and tips, while Graham K Rogers with his "eXtensions" column has also been familiar to Apple Macintosh, iPod, iPhone and, more recently, iPad users for well over a decade now.

Indeed, the Apple camp has always had a strong representation in Post Database, with Graham's "eXtensions" columns being preceded by Mike Basham's "To the Macs" columns and George Mann's "From the Mac Desktop" which started from Day One, back in 1987, and continued for eight years.

Another charter member was Thiravudh (Woody) Khoman, who wrote "The User Column" and this was taken over around a year later by Bill Thompson, whose focus was more on Linux and the CP/M operating systems.

Indeed, at Database we tracked the emergence of Linux as a rival operating system to Microsoft Windows and the MacOS through Woody's columns and articles as well as with contributions from Thomas Knierim in the 1990s.

Nor, in the early days, did we overlook the possibility that IBM's OS/2 might take off, thanks to Bruce Barden's regular coverage during the early 1990s - although he conceded in the middle of that decade that "Microsoft beat IBM 1-0 in the operating system wars."

I must also mention the excellent product reviews and insights from Pee Kay, while Ping na Thalang enriched readers, finding time while serving as Bangkok Airways Vice President to provide regular insights in his "Digitizing Management" column for many years.

Outside contributors also helped by providing technical advice, such as Marc Holt with his "dBasics" columns around database management, Craig Emmott's desktop publishing and Internet tips and James Hein's additional columns about C and Unix programming.

So far, I have only mentioned Post Database's outside contributors, but none of their work would be in print were it not for our in-house sub-editors, while we have also been fortunate in that our reporters have been both dedicated and committed, staying with the section through thick and thin (and I mean that quite literally, for during the early 1990s we routinely ran to 16-pages, sometimes peaking with more than 20 pages each week.)

Regular readers will be familiar with these bylines: Borisuthiboun Dasaneyavaja (Daeng), who has been Editor of Database since I retired at the end of 2008 and who has been with the section since January 1989 when it went weekly. I hired her as a reporter and later she assumed the post of deputy editor as our team expanded and she took on more editing and layout tasks. Another of our early recruits was Kulcharee Tansubhapol (Peun) who was followed by Sasiwimon Boonruang (Noi) who joined Database in 1994 and has been a dedicated IT reporter with Database ever since.

Karnjana Karnjanatawee (Na) was also a Database reporter for over a decade, before transferring to the Bangkok Post's Horizons travel section some five years ago, leaving a vacancy that was filled when we hired Don Sambandaraksa, who had already been a freelance contributor, having written a weekly column "Open Thought" published in Database for two years by then.

We made Don an offer, and he resigned from a position at the Ministry of ICT to join Database where he quickly became our star reporter, one who is now known to everyone in the industry.

Our most recent recruit had been veteran IT reporter Suchit Leesa-Nguansuk (Jim) who has helped keep our IT news reporting ahead of other publications since she joined the team in late 2008.

Database's sub-editors have also essayed regular columns and articles: Neshan Dias was our "sub" in the early 90s, with Nick Wilgus (whose column was "Things to Come") taking over around the middle of the decade when Neshan left for New Zealand.

Nick returned home to the USA, albeit briefly, in 1999, but his work had been appearing again in Database recently under the byline "Gotfried K". Taking over from Nick just before the turn of the millennium was Geoff Long, a true IT hack (not hacker) who was fresh from the ComputerWorld newsroom and whose Database column was "Between the Lines".

All I can say here is that I could not have asked for a more dedicated, hard-working team of journalists throughout the past two decades, while our outside contributors have been the icing on the cake. May I take the liberty of also speaking for our readers and, on behalf of all of us, extend my gratitude to all these players.

If this sounds a little like the closing credits of a Hollywood epic, then perhaps such a metaphor would be valid: imagine, if you will, these names scrolling up a screen - but played to mournful music, perhaps.

We had all had fun covering and reporting on a revolution in digital technology, where, across two decades, Moore's Law has called the shots and set the pace of change.

Download speeds to the desktop have accelerated over 40,000-fold - from 1,200 baud (bits per second) over dial-up connections to 50 Megabits per second today (from True); hard disk storage capacity has soared by at least 10,000 times from around 100 megabytes in 1987 to a terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) or more, while processor speeds have moved up from around 20 MHz for the Intel 80386 chip back then to 3.33 GHz for the Intel six-core i7-980X processor today.

We have seen computer companies emerge and grow to immense proportions, and then disappear: Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Compaq Computer Corporation and Sun Microsystems are three high-profile examples, all victims of takeovers. Incidentally, each of these companies had sponsored trips for our reporters to cover events around the world, including several excursions to the United States.

These corporations are no longer, and nor will we be around any more, for that matter. If it's any solace, one thing that Buddhism teaches us is that nothing is permanent and that change is inevitable - and that this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Indeed, I am reminded of something that happened just before the birth of Post Database as a weekly section. This was another closure that had also been dictated "from above".

Since the mid-1970s I had been working at the Bangkok Post's sister publication, the Bangkok World, an afternoon English-language tabloid newspaper where, in 1987, I had been its Deputy Editor. The Editor, Anussorn Thavisin, myself and other senior staff had tried to lobby management, suggesting that they put more effort into marketing and circulation as well as to try to boost advertising revenues, but to no avail.

Then, in the middle of 1987 we received word that in August that year publication of the newspaper would be "suspended" - it was devastating news, but what could we do?

After the closure, I was assigned to work with the former Bangkok World Editor on the development of a lifestyle magazine. But after several months of design work, mock-ups and meetings it had become clear to us that this project was not going anywhere fast.

So, and rather than wait to be assigned to a newsroom role that I might possibly not like, I decided to propose to management that the Database section, which I had been editing on a part-time basis on the side and which was then appearing once every two weeks, should become a weekly supplement with its own reporting and advertising staff.

I went to see Nigel Oakins, the Post Publishing Managing Director at the time, and laid out my proposal. Supporting me was the Bangkok Post's Business Editor, Bert Romero, while also present at this meeting were the newspaper's advertising and marketing directors.

After making my proposal that predicted good advertising revenues for what would be Thailand's first weekly IT newspaper section, Marketing and Advertising had their say. Surprisingly, perhaps, both executives were against the idea. They felt it would detract from the main section and take advertising away from it - indeed, they had several objections.

We debated, but they were adamant.

So at this management meeting in late 1988 there were two for my idea while two were against the proposal that our modest fortnightly technology pullout should become a weekly section.

Then Nigel spoke: "Well, you won't know if you don't give it a try," he said. "I'll assign you an advertising salesperson," he added. "Come back in six months, we'll meet again and see how it is going," he concluded.

So, I must also say a big "thank you" to Nigel Oakins for this perfect solution, 22 years ago. The rest is history: I hired another former Bangkok World staffer, sports sub-editor Borisuthiboun, as a full-time reporter and we went into high gear.

Other newspapers quickly followed suit by opening their own IT sections, an IT Press Club was established (with Borisuthiboun as its first President, I should add) and I am convinced that our leadership in technology coverage helped to raise awareness in Thailand of the importance of IT and of the key role that it would play in our lives which has, among other things, helped to boost national competitiveness.

Indeed, over the years I have met several Thai IT professionals, now senior executives, who have told me that our section had inspired them when they were students to pursue a career in technology.

And, of course, the moral of this is that Post Database as we have known it for over 20 years may never have happened if the Bangkok World had not been closed down.

As for what will come next, well only time will tell. But there are several talented IT journalists at a loose end right now!

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Tony Waltham was the founding editor of the Post Database technology section from February 1987 until December 2009 and he is now retired and lives in Thailand.