This just in from Esther Dyson and pals:

Dear Tom,

We are writing to let you know what has happened with PC Forum and Release 1.0. You may have heard some of this, but somehow we never managed to make a formal announcement. Nonetheless, it's time to let you know, as Esther leaves CNET Networks this week and Daphne will follow in March.

Most importantly, last March's PC Forum was the last ever. It was a great event; we don't think it could have been better....and that made it the perfect time to stop. We'll miss it, and we hope you will too, but it was time to move on.

Separately, CNET Networks has transferred the Release 1.0 newsletter business to O'Reilly Media, which will continue to publish the report and to manage its subscription base. There's a certain wonderful irony in the fact that O'Reilly will be taking over the business but changing the name, and we can think of no team better suited to turning Release 1.0 into Release 2.0. Such a transition would not have been so easy with PC Forum, which was essentially an entirely new project each year.

Nonetheless, we will miss PC Forum. Running it was a wonderful and fulfilling challenge for 20-odd years. We got to meet the best of our industry and got all of you to engage with one another. We look back with satisfaction, and forward with anticipation, to all the start-ups, deals, friendships and relationships of all kinds that started and strengthened at PC Forum. We will take all those memories and friendships with us.

And we look forward to staying in touch with you. Esther will be back at www.edventure.com (where you can find out about Flight School and her other activities).

Tom's Take: Release 1.0 and PC Forum had a very good run. Some media brands eventually just run out of momentum, something which others should pay attention to...