>Hummmm... is that really true? Perhaps for those people that already have been publishing articles it is, but how about those lots of excellent fellows (some of them not so well known, some completelly unknown) with fantastic knowledge that could start writing short usefull "HOWTOs" (like those found in MSDN), then articles, and start to get known in the editorial marketplace, isn't that a good opportunity?

Sure it is. I'm an editor at Code Magazine so I know firsthand. Most people think it takes something magical to write an article for a magazine, but it really doersn't. It takes a good idea and a reasonable ability to express that idea. Although it helps to be able to write coherently that's much less important than having a good idea and fleshing it out.

Writing is an opportunity for the author to learn something new. Pick a topic that intests you, figure it out and then figure some useful examples. That's a pretty basic formula that works for many articles and anybody can do that.

Writing a short How To is not much less work than writing an article BTW. Not all articles are 10 pages long (well, Ok, mine always end up to be <g>, but...)

+++ Rick ---