C't

c’t – Magazin für Computertechnik

Cover of 15 November 2024 issue
Categories	Computer magazines
Frequency	Biweekly
Circulation	321,000 / issue
First issue	November/December 1983
Company	Heinz Heise
Country	Germany
Language	German Dutch
Website	www.heise.de/ct/
ISSN	0724-8679

c't – Magazin für Computertechnik (German pronunciation: [ts​e​ː​​ˈ​te​ː​​]; Magazine for Computer Technology) is a German computer magazine, 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.^[1] 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 c’t – Журнал о компьютерной технике is published in Moscow.^[2]

The magazine is the second most popular German-language computer magazine with a sold circulation of about 315,000 (as of March 2011^[update]; 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 platform, but Linux and Apple are also regularly featured. The magazine has a reputation of being very thorough, although critics^[who?] claim that the magazine has been "dumbed down" in recent years to accommodate the mass market.

One of the numerous projects^[3] c't initiated is the WSUS Offline Update [fr],^[4] 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, a technician can update Windows 2000/XP/Vista and Microsoft Office 2003/2007 without an Internet 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^[5] "Placebo-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

1. Williams, Elliot (19 December 2015). "First Edition of German Computer Mag is a Blast from the Past". Hackaday. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
2. 25 Years c’t A Chronicle , As of: 7 December 2008 (in German)
3. Homepage of the c't projects (in German)
4. English Article about the c't Offline Update on H-Online by Heise Media UK - a sister company of Heise Deutschland. Written by c't editors - German project homepage
5. Ingo T. Storm: Verdichtung und Wahrheit. in: c't. Hannover 1995,11, S.50. ISSN 0724-8679

External links

• Official website
• c't Netherlands homepage
• Heise Verlag homepage and news site
• Mediadaten c't
• Offline Update (now "WSUS Offline Update") download page