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

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

, published by the Heinz Heise publishing house. 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 Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

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 sold 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 group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

platform, but

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

and

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

are also regularly featured. The magazine has a reputation of being very 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 , a set of scripts to download Microsoft updates, combine it with an install script, and create a

CD image A disk image, in computing, is a computer file containing the contents and structure of a disk volume or of an entire data storage device, such as a hard disk drive, tape drive, floppy disk, optical disc, or USB flash drive. A disk image is usua ...

. 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 kin ...

, a technician can update

Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It was the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), releas ...

/ XP/

Vista Vista usually refers to a distant view. Vista may also refer to: Software *Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007 *VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) ...

and

Microsoft Office Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketin ...

2003/2007 without an

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

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

SoftRAM SoftRAM and SoftRAM95 were system software products which claimed to double the available random-access memory in Microsoft Windows without the need for a hardware upgrade. However, it later emerged that the program did not even attempt to increa ...

Ingo T. Storm:
Verdichtung und Wahrheit.
' in: ''c't.'' Hannover 1995,11, S.50. "

Placebo A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like Saline (medicine), saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. In general ...

-Software" in a short test. When the German distributor of the program took legal action to forbid publishing this rating, ''c't'' followed up with an exhaustive test showing that the program had virtually no effect other than giving false information about system statistics. The subsequent media coverage forced SoftRAM out not only from the German market, but from the US market too.

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