Members of TUG might have seen a survey from the Board asking about the status of TUGboat. To date, the journal issues have been available online one year after publications. The Board were interested in how going open-access would affect the number of members.
The analysis is now in, and the result is clear: every issue except the current one is now publicly accessible. The reason is simple: most members will continue to join TUG even with direct access to TUGboat for free. Speaking personally, I like the print version, and I’m happy to pay for it. I’m also very mindful that we need TUG well beyond TUGboat, so I’m very happy with the decision.
Lets hope we see more people reading TUGboat, and joining TUG (and using TeX!) as a result.