Info about Atlantic article
Thanks for comments about the Atlantic article. This is just a housekeeping note about the Atlantic's posting principles, what you're missing (or not!) by not seeing the article, et cetera.
* The reason it's not immediately available on the web site is that a variety of print publications have realized that they cannot indefinitely both give away their content and attempt to sell it. Yes, there are differences in "look and feel" that, in my mind, will give printed books, magazines, and newspapers some long-term viability despite the Internet. (It's nicer to read a "real" book while sitting on the couch or riding the subway than any electronic counterpart of the moment; newspapers reflect actually quite sophisticated ergonomics that allow readers to scan a variety of topics quickly, gauge their importance, and find what interests them; magazines have a glossy feel that can make even the advertisements part of the experience; etc.) Obviously electronic counterparts are more and more important -- and obviously there are circumstances where they are the best and only way to get the chosen information, for instance if you're looking for a Malaysian publication while in the U.S. or a U.S. publication while you're in Poland.
But the entire print-based "intellectual property" business has realized that it needs to be discriminating about how much info it just gives away electronically. There really is a demonstrated "cannibalization" trend in newsstand sales, depending on how much of their content magazines in particular make available instantly on the internet. And sales on the newsstand are far and away the best means of attracting future subscribers -- which is what print publications need if they are to exist at all. That is why newspapers switch to "registration" schemes; it is why some magazines don't put any of their content on line, and why others do it in phased ways. The Atlantic was, to my knowledge, the first major U.S. magazine to put all its content on line for free, in real time. Now it puts a few features from each issue on line in real time --and the whole magazine is of course available in real time to subscribers worldwide and, in North America and the UK, on newsstands. The whole issues become available on an archived basis when later issues have appeared.
So if you're outside the US, you can wait a month or two for the archives to appear. If you're in the US or Canada or England, you can go to the actual newsstand or subscribe or place a single-issue order online or something. The reason is, it costs us time, expenses, and effort to produce the magazine. And, this current July-August issue is one of the best the magazine has produced, IMHO. The cover story has already received a lot of press. 8)
* So much for the high-concept. On a practical basis, no one who has read 'Getting Things Done' (and paid for it -- rather than getting it on the web for free :wink: ) will have any big discovery from my article. Its entire point was to introduce The David Allen Way to people who didn't know anything about it, and perhaps interest them enough so that they would look into it further.
End of long post, and I appreciate the tips offered on this site. Jim Fallows