''c't'' – (; ''Magazine for Computer Technology'') is a biweekly German computer

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

, published by the Heinz Heise publishing house of

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

. The 5.71 meter high tower from the 587 published c't editions up to the 30th anniversary has been in the foyer of the publishing house since October 2013.

History and profile

The first issue of the magazine was the November/December 1983 edition. Originally a special section of the electronics magazine '' elrad'', the magazine has been published monthly since December 1983 and biweekly since October 1997. A Dutch edition also exists which is published monthly. In addition, since 2008 a Russian licensed-title version named ' is published in Moscow.
25 Years c’t A Chronicle
', As of: 7 December 2008 The magazine is the second most popular German-language computer magazine with a circulation of about 315,000 (; printed circulation: 419,000). With 241,000 subscriptions it is the computer magazine with the most subscribers in Europe. ''c't'' covers both hardware and software; it focuses on software for the

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

platform, but

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

and

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

are also regularly featured. The magazine has a reputation of being thorough, although critics claim that the magazine has been "dumbed down" in recent years to accommodate the mass market. One of the numerous projects ''c't'' initiated is the WSUS Offline Update, a set of scripts to download Microsoft updates, combine it with an install script, and create a CD image. With Offline Update burned to a CD or

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

, a technician can update

Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft, targeting the server and business markets. It is the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RT ...

/ XP/ Vista and

Microsoft Office Microsoft Office, MS Office, or simply Office, is an office suite and family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. The first version of the Office suite, announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at CO ...

2003/2007 without an

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

connection. This is especially useful for people with no or slow Internet connections, or not exposing a vulnerable system to the Internet. A sister magazine, '' iX'', focuses on topics for IT professionals.

Popularity

''c't'' became widely known in 1995 when it rated the program

SoftRAM95 SoftRAM and SoftRAM95 were system software products released by Syncronys Softcorp in the mid-1990s that claimed to increase or even double the available random-access memory in Microsoft Windows without the need for a hardware upgrade, which is ...

Placebo A placebo ( ) can be roughly defined as a sham medical treatment. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. Placebos are used in randomized clinical trials ...

-Software" in a limited test. When the German distributor of the program took legal action to prohibit this rating, ''c't'' followed up with a more extensive test showing the product had virtually no effect other than giving misleading data about system statistics. Subsequent media coverage led to SoftRAM95 being removed from the German and US markets. In a 1996 interview, Rainer Poertner, the German-born CEO of Syncronys Softcorp which released SoftRAM95, took responsibility for forcing the product's release before its development was complete.

References

External links

*
''c't'' Netherlands homepage

Heise Verlag homepage and news site
* {{lang, d
Mediadaten c't
}
Offline Update (now "WSUS Offline Update") download page
1983 establishments in West Germany Biweekly magazines published in Germany Dutch-language magazines Computer magazines published in Germany German-language magazines Monthly magazines published in Germany Magazines established in 1983