An update on WinRumors

By Tom Warren, on 5th Jan 12 10:15 am with 98 Comments

It has been less than a month since I announced my move to The Verge. At the time I warned that posts here would be less frequent, and that has certainly been true over the holiday period. We’re now in 2012 and I have started to write fully at The Verge. If you’ve been following me then you may have noticed that my posts there haven’t been as thick as fast as you may have been used to here. This is partly because I’m new and also related to the slow amount of Microsoft related news over the holidays. I’m currently working with The Verge’s editorial team to get myself fully up to speed and ready for CES 2012 next week, so things will be back on track very soon.

So what happens to WinRumors in the meantime? As I noted in my “Moving to The Verge” post, this is a massive move for me personally and I have been working to ensure readers get their Microsoft fix from The Verge until I secure plans for the site. I have received several kind offers from individuals to help keep the site running, and from other publishers to take over the site. I’m in discussions with one in particular that I feel would be a great fit for WinRumors, and would take over the site with its best interests at heart. I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to announce some positive news soon. Until then, the RSS for WinRumors and Twitter/Facebook accounts will share articles related to Microsoft stories at The Verge. I have received mixed feedback on this and I’m welcome to more so please leave a comment if you feel strongly one way or the other.

I’d like to thank you all again for your incredible support, readership and continued patience whilst I make this transition. It has not been an easy decision for me personally, and I feel incredibly guilty that I haven’t kept you more informed on the future of WinRumors. I had originally hoped to have something in place before my start date at The Verge. I hope you will continue to read my work over at The Verge, it’s going to be an incredible year for the site and Microsoft.

Thank you

Tom

If you’d like to get in touch then please continue to use the contact us page.

  • http://twitter.com/salonerkegi salon erkeği

    Which publisher might that be?

  • Anonymous

    as long as you keep writing on verge as you write here im ok :)
    winrumos was/is by far the best blog for microsoft news around. happy new year and success in your new job

  • Anonymous

    I personally think that you have made a mistake, you were doing great work at this site and had done in one year what many would have taken years. Others sites around the net are not as loved as winrumors and they been around longer than winrumors. The fact that you are giving up so easily makes me sad and I am sure most fans of the site would agree even if they are happy for you. 

    I strongly believe that if you were to stick around with Winrumors the ROI would be greater than at the Verge. With Winrumors you would have a footprint in internet history, with the Verge you would be just another editor/writer. The simplicity of winrumors makes it a superior site even compare to The Verge which i think is a mess. Heck, Engadget is easier to read than The Verge. You made an investment with winrumors and I believe you should stick with it. I really hope you do change your mind and come back full time with winrumors. All you need to do to make winrumors better is hire some people or even volunteers which i am sure you would find and the work would be easier for you. In the long run, winrumors would give you a good revenue stream that would allow you to expand and do bigger things. 
    Giving it to another publisher might just ruin the face of what winrumors has become and it would bring the end to your success with winrumors. I seriously think that you will end up regretting leaving such a good prospect of a site. However, if you do choose to go on with your decision, then good luck. I hope you do reconsider and come back.

    • http://www.winrumors.com Tom W

      Thanks for the detailed response. It makes me sad I am giving it up but excited about future prospects. The truth is I dedicated nearly 18 hours a day to this site, every Monday to Friday for a year and it has hurt my personal health and relationships with friends, family and my fiance. I would have loved to keep doing WinRumors as a part-time project alongside my full-time job but it just wasn’t feasible to commit to both. You’re probably right on the ROI in the long term but short term and across the year of being a publisher on my own, I have learnt it’s a difficult business to do alone. Unfortunately I am inexperienced in that area and wasn’t able to find anyone to invest in the site to allow me to do it full-time, with a staff of writers and not having to worry about technical issues, advertising revenues and all the other parts of running a successful site.

      This isn’t about money for me, I’m not interested in making a quick buck or thousands of dollars a year. I just want to do what I enjoy and have a stable source of income to support my daughter and fiance.

    • Anonymous

      Hey Tom… It’s got to feel pretty good and bad at the same time to see people mad that you’re moving to The Verge.  I applaud your desire to rebalance your work and pesonal life.  The end result is that your work is greatly appreciated and we simply hope that you’re able to rebalance while providing us with all the amazing information we’ve grown so accustomed to.  Keep up the good work!  :)  

    • Joel Job

      That is why we appreciate you so much, you are bloody honost in your writing ! Definitely going to miss the regular WinRumors articles, and cannot assure commitment to the Verge, because I think they are not objective towards Microsoft technologies and hopefully you could bring some sanity to them.

    • Anonymous

      No worries Tom while I’ve expressed sadness to see you move on as well. I will follow your writing at The Verge. I believe many of us here respect your unbiased and honest writing and are willing to follow you wherever you go.

      I’ve been to The Verge Show (here in NYC). I love the guys at The Verge (Josh Topolsky, Nilay and Paul Miller etc.) and I love the “feel/look” of The Verge (especially the articles’ presentation) but I have to say, it is pretty hard to find/read the content on that website (the main page). It’s too easy to get lost once you start scrolling down. I’m sure many articles are missed due to the messy look. If the articles weren’t presented in a staggered and random order it would be much easier to consume. 

      PS. Please don’t let WinRumors die and pick someone that will maintain the site’s simplicity and deliver unbiased/factual articles (non-opinionated) as you have done this past year.

      See you at The Verge.

    • Sam Sam

      Perhaps the Verge should try Metro

    • Anonymous

      I would like to add: Please have the “doodoo” heads at The Verge change the Microsoft Forum name to something less derogatory and demeaning. 

      WTH were they thinking when they came up with that name? MicroSerfs.. NICE… real NICE… Welcoming too.
      I guess being an Apple/Google fan is cool and accepted but being a MS fan is just lame. We are all just “serfs”.

    • http://about.me/kentchen Kent Chen

      Thanks and no worries, Tom. Even though I hated the fact that you are leaving WinRumours behind, I respect your decision and understand the reason behind it. I’m also running a blog (http://about.me/w7h) that covers Microsoft and Windows, so I know how hard it is to keep it up and grow, while balancing the personal life and work at the same time.

      I believer whatever the end result would be the last thing we want to see is that the WinRumours ends up in the wrong hand. So if there is anything that you can think we can help feel free to drop us a line.

      Tip my hat to all your great work you’ve done here and wish you good luck at The Verge. I will follow you there too.

    • http://techin5.com Jubbin Grewal @Techin5.com

      Fair enough on that Tom. Keep it real.

    • Anonymous

      Hey Tom ive been a big fan of your site and completly understand your situation. Its simple, you got to do what you got to do. family and your own well being is more important. The best of luck to you and your family. congrats on your new gig !

    • Anonymous

      Even tho i still think the verge are anti Microsoft, i take back what i said in ur last article and will definitely be reading ur articles there. Putting ur family first should always be top priority!

    • Anonymous

      You should have written that in a blog post, I think there are much better people to help out winrumors or an issue than going to the Verge, if you make a blog post about this I think tons of people with experience would be helping out right now.

      And about the Verge, I only hope for you that it works out, because the site itself isn’t anything special. It’s slow loading (try that site on a normal PC with Firefox and it will take 10 seconds to load the front page), it has very little traffic, it is less popular than it was at launch, and it’s a very very anti-Microsoft site, both in userbase and in editors. These are the people from Engadget who refused to use Windows and many still do, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you many are MAC / Android only people, so I don’t really know why you chose that site, I mean it’s the opposite of this site.

      You also let people have their say on this site, it’s pretty open-minded and you don’t go around censoring stuff.

      So yeah, I would keep a plan B just in case.

    • http://about.me/kentchen Kent Chen

      Agree. I still don’t get why these people launch a site that does pretty much the same thing as before. 

      Comparing to The Verge, I much like WinRumors here. And I guess and hope WinRumors is Tom’s plan B. He can always come back writing here if things don’t work out there.

      But still, I wish Tom all the best at The Verge, to put some influences on these Mac/Android minds. :)

    • GajaKannan

      Love your honesty Tom.  Thats why I come to this site everyday.  I would follow you to Verge.  Yeah even after the terrible look and feel of that site, because I believe you will still produce the quality content you have been putting out here for past year.  Good luck.

    • BigChiefSmokem

      Tom,

      The past year has been a great year for all fans of the Big M here at WinRumors.

      I really enjoyed this site, not just for the good rumors, but because I always felt it had great spirit thanks to you and my fellow commentors, and hey I’ll even include our resident troll ArrowSmith in that compliment as well.

      Have a lot of fun in your new venture Tom and may great success carry you on your way to fulfilling all your dreams!

    • http://twitter.com/weetigo f t edwards

      I think you are making the right move, and I applaud your prior work at WinRumors.  While this was my favorite site for breaking news, I’m still glad you made the career decision to move to The Verge and get more serious with your reporting as a career.

    • Cat of the Canal

      Fully agree..the Verge is a reading nightmare.

    • Luandersonn Airton

      Eu sou do Brasil e digo o mesmo, é lamentável a saída dele.

    • Sam Sam

      I would agree with this – you built a business which takes time to make a profit. Instead of sticking with it you jump to something which is clearly not in the same league as WinRumors. The people following you here will likely follow the new owners of winRumors, as opposed to moving to the Verge – that would be heart breaking for me if it was my business.

  • http://voguishtech.com Wemberg Carlo Estil

    it’s all good tom i already bookmarked your page at the verge

    • Sourabh Karmakar

      pl post the link. I have searched, but not found.

      I also like Winrumors very much, and watching this page almost every hour. Searching a desired article in Verge is like finding something in Jungle !!!

    • http://twitter.com/starksimon Stark

      Here you go: http://www.theverge.com/microsoft

    • http://voguishtech.com Wemberg Carlo Estil
  • Hans af Klas

    Great work for the past year with winrumors!  Winrumors has a clean format, fast page load and even a mobile version which I have been using several times a day.  Trying to load theverge on a mobile over WiFi is slow, it needs som serious tuning for mobile clients.

    Keep up the good work Tom.

  • Anonymous

    Shame that The Verge web design is over the top. winrumors worked so well for me because it was designed so well

    • Test1ngi23

      WinRumors even uses HTML5 tags! Nice!

  • Guest

    Tom can you get them to change the name of the Microserf forum? That name really irks me and Im not going to read the verge when they so overtly mock microsoft fans.

  • http://www.geekchoice.com Dagmar Schneitz

    I’ve read the Verge and it seemed somewhat like Ebay without the auction to me.  But I do enjoy WinRumors and what it provides.

  • Arkistriph

    I wish you the best Tom. I understand putting family first and I really do hope this works out for you. Good luck but The Verge is a bit too busy for me, Will catch ya in the Funny Papers. 

  • Brad

    Hey Tom congrats on the new job but I looked at the Verge. Its layout so much crappier then Win Rumours. Its hard to find information. I understand that WinRumors does not pay the bills but i hopy you can atleast continue the news and keep it new within a week.

  • Diderot

    Please let the Verge staff know that the site run too slow. PC or mobile. They need to improve this feature of the site. They’re slower than Android u know.

  • Guest

    The Verge seems to me like a Kool-aid pool for Android/Mac fans, Microsoft stories & news do not belong there.

  • Guest2009

    This will be my last post on Winrumors, I enjoyed your site a lot! Good luck on The Verge!

    • Frank

      No!! Please!!!!

  • Jeff

    Well, I agree with the comments that reading on The Verge is even worse than Engadget.  Both sites are just WAY TOO busy.  Both have insight and access that you don’t get with say, Neowin.net, but Neowin is much cleaner in design and layout.  And WinRumors is also pretty tame in comparison to The Verge and Engadget.

    But, all of that said, it doesn’t sound like your decision to walk away from WinRumors full-time or even all together (giving the site over to another publisher) is what you really want, but rather what you feel you need/have to do based on health, finances, time, etc.  I understand.

    I’m fairly leery of WinRumors being turned over to another publisher based on how that sort of thing usually goes.  But that is your call.

  • Ppp

    The Verge ? One of the crappiest layouts ever. Infested with annoying ads. Really don’t like it.

    Shame that Winrumors will die. Really disappointed to see good sites being shut down for the sake of big “fancy” webpages ( which are not fancy at all ).

    • Anonymous

      I agree.  The layout on The Verge gives me a headache.  Its terrible and brings Firefox to its knees.

    • http://SocialSteak.com/ Stephen Robinson

      Works fine in Chrome.

  • Anonymous

    WinRumors >> The Verge, IMHO.  I’ve read your articles on Neowin, read them here, and I’ll continue to read them on The Verge.  Best of luck to you Tom.

  • http://my.opera.com/wikipedian Thu Win

    Can you keep the feed of WinRumor with WinRumor instead of streaming content from The Verge. This is quite confusing.

    Perhaps you can “merge” the two feeds and make the “combined” feeds contain contents from BOTH The Verge AND WinRumor.

  • http://twitter.com/starksimon Stark

    This was my favorite tech news website. I’m watching its funeral with great sadness. Thank you, Tom, for all those awesome articles. WinRumors, rest in peace. Over and out.

    • Matthewprince

      If your interested in joining a new website that i will be putting up soon (talkmicrosoft.com) then let me know at matthewprince@live.co.uk

      Matt

  • Devon Garner

    I have enjoyed this site. Tom I think that no matter where you are you will be fine. Good things happen to good people trying to do good! I joined the verge so I could continue to read your articles and look forward to you changing the culture there as you have in my household.

  • Alique Williams

    I cried.

    • Alique Williams

      Just kidding.

  • As

    Dont worry. I’ve de-favourite WinRumors

  • Wourelia

    I don’t like The Verge’s website. I do like te mobile version though.

  • Frank

    Why don’t you just copy and paste the articles you write on The Verge to Wintumors? I mean the subject is still Microsoft anyways on The Verge.

  • HeatherL

    Tom, I truly enjoy this site.  While your MSFT support was always there, you still had the professionalism to tell the whole store, be it good or bad.   I am sure this is why The Verge wanted you and why you will do great there.  Good luck.

  • WM

    Tom, did you ever consider asking willing (& able) WinRumors’ readers to make donations towards keeping the site-as-is alive and you here? From the reactions here, I believe a number of folks would be willing to do that – especially if they knew the consequences as we all now do. Just a thot! Probably too late now and perhaps that may not be enough to hit critical mass, but hey, who knows!

    • Riasat

      +1

  • Alique Williams

    Verge is probably the most poorly designed news/information web site i’v there is.

  • andre

    Theverge is horrible.  It’s incredibly slow to load and it’s a mismach of all kinds of stuff.  I rarely see anything about microsoft.  cnet news is 100% better than the verge.  You were better than cnet.  I have reverted to going to cnet.
     
    I understand 18 hours a day is not a sustanable model, but this site is awesome and it seems it could monetize very well, and then hire someone to hlep you out.
    I thing you’ve built something great.  I am sure you can givesell it to someone that will drive it, growing it.  Maybe those folks can hire you back as a writter for the site a year from now !! :-)

    • Matthewprince

      If your interested in joining a new website that i will be putting up soon (talkmicrosoft.com) then let me know at matthewprince@live.co.uk

      Matt

  • Gabriel Lopes

    I still can’t believe T_____T

  • norville2

    Good Luck Tom, just been over to the Verge and i alread miss WinRumours, read a couple of posts and realized it is not for me, i prefer to be with loike minded people.

  • Anonymous

    Good luck at the Verge, Tom! Glad to hear that you don’t intend to let Winrumors suddenly die

  • Elvin

    It’s all about the money :)

    • Appieflappie

      Shut up and get a job like Tom Warren did.

    • Elvin

      man THE JOB, IT’S ALL A BOUT THE MONEY.
      my point is, if u get paid to do something you do it because you get paid. WR is another story, this is he’s baby.
      there is no way in the whole world he will write the same things in the same manner he was doing here. there is a standard and you cant just post anything. thi s is what i came for here.

      hell i’m not goin to the verge. i prefer  engadget, arstehnica, ombubuntu for ubuntu stuff, winrumors for windows stuff, etc etc i prefer blogs. :)
      now i’ll try to find another one what writes only about windows.

      i wish only the best to Tom and i hope someone will take over and write some “normal” stuff in here or even some community driven website dedicated for windows/microsoft only.

      and about the job: i have tried blogging but i don’t have time. i hate to write for someone more to tell me how to write. it sucks.

      ps: my English is bad, i know.

    • Hungryguy38
    • http://about.me/kentchen Kent Chen

      @e77f51da37eda71feae4f447505fdb18:disqus , sorry, none of these alternatives came close to WinRumors. Just from user experience stand of point, WinRumoers is superb, not mentioning how good and relevant the rumors Tom put in here. 

    • Anonymous

      @overscaled:disqus Within Windows is alright. http://www.withinwindows.com/ 

      Tom’s stuff at The Verge has been good though :)

  • Appieflappie

    People should stop being so selfish. Tom worked on WinRumors in his free time and he didnt earn a thing with this website. And yet people keep on complaining and saying that he should destroy his life for the sake of their selfishness. 

    Get a life people and get a job. Then you may feel what it is to have responsibilities. These kids these days are pathetic.

  • Spartdan

    Good luck!

  • Simplycani

    To be frank Tom I actually stopped reading bogs like before ..i was so happy n comfortable with winrumors ..i feel u shld comeback here … :)

  • Anonymous

    I only occasionally browse this site but I had an open mind heading to the verge. One thing that bothers me about the site is a general lack of focus. Winrumours is (or was) great because it stuck to Microsoft only, compared to the verge which has everything just randomly mashed up from everywhere. Good luck though, you had a better shot with this imo.

    • Matthewprince

      If your interested in joining a new website that i will be putting up soon (talkmicrosoft.com) then let me know at matthewprince@live.co.uk

      Matt

  • Anonymous

    Dang!  I just found out about this site.  I agree, this is way cleaner than the verge’s site, is it me or is that layout AWFUL?

  • JantjeBeton1

    Dutch people can go to wphome.nl for WP7 news

  • QAAD

    i wish u continue postin on winrumors. winrumors sounds microsoft and verge wont…

  • Israel

    I actually set winrumors as my home page, but since your new adventure, I have now changed it to http://www.wmpoweruser.com.
    Before I knew about winrumors i was zdnet, wpcentral, engadget, slashgear… This site quickly became my favorite but now its not.
    Even The Verge, I checked it out but I don’t like it, everything seems out of place, cluttered and confusing. I’m not sure this was a great move. I dont know how many people heard of The Verge before you moved there, and I don’t know how many people like The Verge since your announced your move there. But what do i know?

    • http://twitter.com/UMJM13 John

      I suggest just following the rss feed for this site.  As far as I can tell, it carries just the MS related Verge posts at the moment.  

      Really the only difference in the site change is the quality of comments has slightly diminished.  Having the same handful of  M$ SUCKS, WP=KIN people show up in every thread gets annoying.  Everyone here proved perfectly willing to discuss criticisms and issues rationally, but the big tech blog comment sections always result in a descent into trolls and rants.

    • Matthewprince

      If your interested in joining a new website that i will be putting up soon (talkmicrosoft.com) then let me know at matthewprince@live.co.uk

      Matt

  • iamwhoiam

    Family first.

    @Hungryguy38, Neowin, seriously? I’d rather read a public restroom wall before I’d put up with the “journalism” and the rabid Apple fanbois that Neowin offers.

  • Anonymous

    Hope your transition is a smooth one.

  • WinMetro

    kissing my winrumors GOODBYE!!!!!!!!!! and hello verge

  • http://www.geekchoice.com Dagmar Schneitz

    I read and love The Verge. I love that it’s in layman’s terms, some computer blogs are so technical.

    • Matthewprince

      If your interested in joining a new website that i will be putting up soon (talkmicrosoft.com) then let me know at matthewprince@live.co.uk

      Matt

  • Matthewprince

    I actually own the domain talkmicrosoft.com and was going to do something like this a while back but changed my mind. If you all would like a site totally microsoft only and similar then let me know and ill get it put up this weekend. It will be a forum based website and with help could be brilliant!!

    • Michael Ryan

      Please contact me at Mike.Ryan52 [at] gmail.com if you are serious. I do professional web design and would love to be a part of such a project.

    • Matthewprince

      Hi,

      Ive emailed you. Look forward to hearing from you.

      Matt

    • http://twitter.com/JackFetterCEO Jack Fetter

      I’d be interested in getting involed as a writer. Contact me on this Twitter account (the one I’m using to comment) please. :)

    • Matthewprince

      Hi,

      I have searched for you on twitter and replied. Look forward to hearing from you.

      Matt

  • Tim Jonson

    I concur with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward
    to your future updates. The usefulness and significance is overwhelming and has
    been invaluable to me!

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  • NativeFloridian

    winrumors.com R.I.P. (I removed bookmark on 1/26/2012)

  • Matthewprince

    Anybody else interested in contributing in a new site totally dedicated to microsoft? Let me know here!

  • http://circuitsoft.tumblr.com CircuitSoft

    I think this should be an open blog, something where you just register and after you are approved, you can edit or make new posts. People who abuse their power will have their accounts removed and their IP address would be blocked so they could not make future accounts on with that IP.

  • sanienjao

    Once the greates source of MS news – R.I.P Winrumors

    You will be missed

  • http://www.facebook.com/walkeras Ashley James Walker

    Hey tom really appriciate that you are still using the RSS feed of WinRumors to notify us of your writings on The Verge. I really ejoy your writing style.

    • http://www.winrumors.com Tom W

      No problem. Thanks :)

  • Willie Park

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  • http://www.geekchoice.com Dagmar Schneitz

    I’ve read the Verge and it’s good blogging. When are some new blogs on winrumors coming out?

    • http://www.winrumors.com Tom W

      I’m working full time at The Verge now so look there for fresh content :)