John Donovan retires to Arizona
John Donovan has announced his retirement and with it the closure of Low-Power Design, the web site and e-newsletter he founded 5 years ago.
I had the pleasure of meeting John on a number of occasions, most recently earlier this year in Austin, TX. John is an accomplished technical writer and editor and it was to my surprise that I found out he’d had no formal engineering training – he was self taught when it came to technology. Always a gentleman in business and clearly a very kind and considerate individual in his personal life, I’m very glad that we shared a dinner together back in May before he made the decision to move on. It was a pleasure to know you John and we wish you a long, happy, healthy retirement.
Here’s the message that John sent to electronics community last week:
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Sadly but surely all good things must come to an end. Low-Power Design has had a good 5-year run and I’ve had a good 30-year one in this professional incarnation (editor, publisher, PR flack). A few weeks ago I tri-stated (read: retired but didn’t take down) Low-Power Design and discontinued updating it. Last month my family and I moved to Arizona, where I plan to retire and spend more time with my kids before they grow up and get away from me. That happened with my older kids because I was so busy that they were gone almost before I noticed. Not this time. (Silicon Valley Type A’s take note) I don’t have any unique pearls of wisdom on the state of tech journalism. More good journalists than I can count have been laid off and now work either for vendors or on 1099s for their former employers. Still, the tech editors who have gone inside have certainly maintained their integrity (Ron Wilson, Mike Santarini, Brian Fuller, and Steve Leibson to name a few), they’ve just narrowed their focus. There are still some stellar tech editors out there, just not as many as there used to be. And there are fewer and fewer outlets for their voices, which I think is a shame. Anyway thank you for your support of Low-Power Design and the opportunity to be of service; thank you in particular to our numerous sponsors and advertisers who made it possible. It’s been fun, but now it’s time to move on. Despite being a BuJew, let me sign off by saying with Roy Rogers, “Good bye, good luck, and may the Good Lord take a likin’ to you.” |
