This vintage map guide to CD-ROMs was designed by graphic artist Timothy Edward Downs. It was one of a dozen or so road map-like posters published by PC Computing magazine in the mid-1990s as a marketing ploy to set them apart from competitors like PC Magazine and PC World. Downs takes inspiration from classic subway maps and circuit board imagery to turn a simple consumer guide into a creative cartographic experience. The map is divided into various categories (Business, Personal Interest & Hobby, Reference, Games, Home & Kids, and Educational), with individual CD-ROMs rated on a scale of one to five discs. On the verso are capsule reviews from the magazine's resident CD-ROM expert Ron White, author of the popular "CD-RON" column, as well as sidebars on performance tips, hardware, and multimedia standards. The map is full of artifacts of the mid-90s, with references to Microsoft Encarta, Quicken, JFK assassination conspiracy theories, Dennis Miller, Gilbert Gottfried, Myst, Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous, and terrorist group profiles. A fascinating look at a cutting edge technology, now obsolete, made in the early days of the personal computing era. Self-folding into pictorial wrappers (4.0 x 8.8").

Timothy Edward Downs's groundbreaking work in the PC Computing series mapped the new frontiers of technology just as the mapmakers of the Age of Discovery elucidated the New World. Although the PC Computing map posters were printed in large runs, they are scarce on the market today and rarely seen in institutional collections.

References: Rumsey #10446.

Condition: A

Issued folding with only slight wear along a couple folds.