Last Minute Rush

I remember the last minute rush associated with most of the issues we've published in the last 11 years. One minute, we're a page short; the next minute we're two pages over. We finally get things figured out and the phone rings. Advertising sales just closed a deal on a one-page display ad and we've got to cut something. It's always been this way—it always will be.

One of the things I enjoy most about this job is the finished product. Over the last 11 years, we've published almost 80 editions of a magazine that supports users of Microsoft's mobile OS and software suite. Each issue was packed with product reviews, tips, how-to's, options, device comparison charts, and a lot more.

This final issue, the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine Super Resource Guide, is no different. In it, we review eight of the hottest new Windows Mobile smartphones, take a look at the first smartphone powered by Google's Android OS, announce the winners and finalists in our Best Software Awards 2008 competition, review the top GPS navigation programs for Windows Mobile, show you how you can get more out of social networking and get free eBooks from your library, and point you towards the best Web sites, Web applications, and free phone resources available. We also include an extended edition of our Tips & Tricks section, which includes the top tips, new tips for Windows Mobile 6.1, and more. Finally, Nathan Clevenger's enterprise section includes articles that discuss the wide deployment of Windows Mobile, the move towards converged devices, and makes the case for using Windows Mobile in the enterprise.

A lot of people deserve credit for the success of this magazine. Although they haven't written for us for a while, issues published in the earlier years of the magazine were enhanced greatly by articles written by Jim Cummiskey, Carl Merkel, Todd Ogasawara, Craig Peacock, Andy Seybold, Randy Sly, and others. More recently, we have been fortunate to have excellent contributions from Nate Adcock, Derek Ball, Dale Coffing, Clinton Fitch, Allen Gall, Dan Hanttula, Al Harrington, Tim Hillebrand, Steven Hughes, Jim Karpen, John Kennedy, Eric Pankoke, Mike Riley, Werner Ruotsalainen, Randy Siegel, Myron Swartz, Alan Zaks, and many, many others. Special thanks must go to Chris De Herrera, David Shier, and Ed Zabrek, who have supported this publication and contributed interesting, informative, and well-written articles to it since the beginning.

I would also like to personally thank the publisher of this magazine. I worked with Hal Goldstein for 20 years, and in that time I've put in plenty of extra hours. But my contributions pale in comparison to his. Hal has not only spent much more of his time on the publication, he has provided the vision and focus that helped insure its success.

Finally and most importantly, we thank you, the reader, for supporting the magazine these 11 years. Thanks for the tips and articles you contributed, for your letters and e-mails, and for the kind words and the occasional criticisms and suggestions.