Why Microsoft has created its own print magazine
Of all the many ways Microsoft could mark its 50th anniversary, I wasn't expecting the software maker to launch a magazine. "It's our answer to a timely question: How do we earn trust and hold attention in an age of scroll and skim? How do we create Signal in a world of noise?" asks Frank Shaw, Microsoft's chief communications officer.
Microsoft's response to a world of people doomscrolling on X and TikTok is a print magazine that you can thumb through in peace and quiet. The first issue of Signal is 120 pages with a focus on AI, both as a topic and, to a small degree, a means of production. Microsoft hopes the magazine will bypass the digital world and reach business leaders directly every few months.
"People are overloaded with information, and a lot of the information is pretty ephemeral," says Steve Clayton, the executive editor of Signal, in an interview for Notepad. "[Signal is] partly a reaction to that, which is: how do we create something that's more thoughtful and has some more permanence, and is a bit longer-lasting than a five-second TikTok video?"
Signal looks like any high-quality magazine you'd find at a newsstand, complete with deep dives on Microsoft technologi …