Personal Computer World was, I think, Europe's first personal computer magazine (there were American ones, such as Byte) and first appeared with an undated issue in 1978. You can see the first cover here
PCW was very popular in the 1980s, partly because it covered the whole field from the Sinclair Spectrum to the IBM PC, and for some of us, because of Guy Kewney's idiosyncratic but extremely readable news column. PCW was never the same without him.
Its market was, of course, rapidly undercut by the growth of more targeted magazines, with one or more titles appearing for almost every computer platform and numerous special interests. Under the circumstances, perhaps PCW survived longer than many might have expected.
PCW is now owned by Incisive Media Ltd, which bought it as part of VNU Business Publications in 2007. According to Press Gazette, "Incisive has blamed the closure on the 'unprecedented adverse economic climate'."
In the early 1980s, I edited what was probably Europe's second personal computer magazine, Practical Computing, which many considered a rival. In fact, of course, we were all friends, and later I wrote a column for PCW. In this kind of market, the real competition is made up of photography, hi-fi, car, boating and other rival interests.
