Can it really be 10 years? Hard to believe but oddly true - 10 years ago today we published the first edition of IT Week.

I'm now the last person on the launch team still involved in the publication - then as software editor, now as editor in chief of a group comprising IT Week, CRN, BusinessGreen.com and Computing.

But while my role has changed out of all recognition, the spirit of IT Week is still the same. In 1998 we set out to create a business weekly that would be really worth reading, that would provide no-nonsense information for senior IT professionals - and that's what IT Week still provides. When we surveyed a representative sample IT Week's audience recently, 86 percent rated the print weekly as good or excellent, with only 13 percent ranking it average and only two percent giving it the thumbs down. With almost a quarter of readers choosing "excellent", we are happy to know that we are still providing a worthwhile service.

Looking back, I actually remember issue two rather better than issue number one. The first issue had a long lead-up, but number two was the first we actually wrote in a week (with hangovers from the launch party, too), so it was of course a lot more intense.

For issue two I wrote a news story about software giant Oracle that then-news-editor Martin Veitch put on the cover, about Oracle's questionable handling of the impending Millennium Bug problem.

Oracle didn't like it, not a bit of it, and Oracle's PR sent me to Coventry as result. For what must have been a year afterwards, calls for comment went unanswered and my name fell off the invite list for press conferences and events.

This cold-shoulder treatment made my job as software editor a bit tricky in those early months, but as IT Week's reputation grew it probably did Oracle more of a disservice than it did me. That kind of overreaction is, thankfully, a lot rarer among spin doctors these days. Blogging, which was of course unheard of a decade ago, has changed the perception of criticism quite a bit. Most companies have become both thicker skinned and more nimble and professional about addressing their own failings.

Talking of which, I'd be very happy to hear your thoughts on IT Week - good and bad. Tell me what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong, and we'll do our best to take appropriate action.