My Svet Kompjutera magazine collection now contains 77 physical magazines and preserves more than a decade of technological change. Every issue carries a small part of the time in which it appeared.
When I arrange the magazines together today, I remember the years when we discovered new games, computers, graphics cards, mobile phones and the internet by turning printed pages. There were no endless short videos or dozens of reviews appearing on the same day. Instead, we waited for a new issue, examined its contents and read the articles slowly.
This Svet Kompjutera magazine collection contains 76 different issues published between 2007 and 2019. It includes three complete yearly sets, several nearly complete collections and a sealed copy from 2017. A second copy of the June 2017 issue brings the total to 77 physical magazines.
When a new magazine issue was worth waiting for
Today, it takes only a few seconds to find information about a new game or a piece of computer hardware. In the past, however, technology news moved at a different pace.
A new issue brought reviews of devices we wanted, games our computers might not have been powerful enough to run and technologies that seemed to belong to the distant future.
We rarely read a magazine only once. I returned to hardware tests, game reviews, advertisements and lists of computer prices. Even products I knew I would probably never own were fascinating because they showed how quickly technology was changing.
That is why these magazines mean more to me than their technical information alone. They preserve a time when the home computer held a special place in everyday life and every new device felt like an important step forward.
My Svet Kompjutera magazine collection through the years
The oldest preserved issue dates from 2007. The collection also includes one issue from 2009, two issues from 2011, ten issues from 2013, complete yearly sets from 2014, 2015 and 2018, eleven issues from 2016, ten different issues from 2017 and the first five issues from 2019.
As a result, my Svet Kompjutera magazine collection shows how games, computers, graphics cards, mobile phones and digital services changed over more than a decade.
The oldest issues: Crysis in 2007 and the beginning of Android
The oldest issue in my collection is 12/2007. Its front cover features Crysis under the Serbian headline “Udarac realnosti”, meaning “A Strike of Reality”.
At the time, Crysis was much more than another computer game. It became a symbol of demanding graphics and powerful hardware. For years, people discussing a new computer asked the same question: could it run Crysis properly?
The same front cover also mentions processors, graphics cards, digital cameras and programming for Windows Vista. A single magazine cover therefore preserves an entire snapshot of the computer world in late 2007.
The next preserved issue is 3/2009, with Google Android and the G1 mobile phone on the front cover. Android is now an ordinary part of daily life, but this issue comes from a time when it was still a major new development.
Together, the two covers show a clear change in direction. In 2007, attention centred on demanding PC games and computer components. By 2009, it was becoming clear that a large part of our digital lives would also move to mobile devices.
Two preserved issues from 2011
I have two issues from 2011: 5/2011 and 6/2011.
The May issue carries the headline “Munje ili hologrami?”, which means “Lightning or Holograms?”. It explores technology projects and ideas developed in Serbia. The front cover brings back a time when holograms and other futuristic technologies inspired genuine curiosity.
The June issue features The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. The Witcher is now one of the best-known gaming series, which makes it especially interesting to return to the moment when its second instalment was still new.
Old magazines, games and computer equipment can also become part of a personal nostalgic space. My guide to creating a retro gaming corner at home explores several ways to bring that atmosphere back.
An almost complete set from 2013
From 2013, I have 10 of the 12 monthly issues. Only January and March are missing. I preserved the February issue and every issue from April to December.
When several magazines from the same year are placed together, the changes become easier to follow. Processors, graphics cards, mobile phones, operating systems and games replaced one another throughout the year.
One of the most striking front covers features a graphics card beneath the headline “Odgovor zelene armade”, or “The Green Army’s Response”. It recalls a time when detailed hardware tests were among the most eagerly read parts of a computer magazine.
Some readers were planning their next computer. Others, including me, simply enjoyed reading and imagining a more powerful system.
The complete Svet Kompjutera set from 2014
I have preserved all 12 issues from 2014, from January to December. This is the first complete yearly set in my collection and represents an entire year of computer technology, games and mobile devices kept on paper.
The December front cover features Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare beneath the Serbian headline “Konačno napredak”, meaning “Progress at Last”. When all twelve issues are arranged together, it is possible to follow the games, computer components and technology stories that attracted attention throughout the year.
This yearly set is especially interesting because it sits between the nearly complete 2013 collection and the complete 2015 set. Together, the three consecutive years provide a detailed picture of how the computer world changed during that period.
The complete Svet Kompjutera set from 2015
Another important part of the collection is the complete 2015 set. I have preserved all 12 issues, from January to December.
It is an entire year of technology kept on paper. Across those issues, it is possible to follow Windows 10, new computer hardware, mobile phones, games and digital services that were still considered new.
The December front cover features Fallout 4. It also mentions Raspberry Pi, virtual servers, StarCraft II and Football Manager 2016. A single cover therefore presents many of the subjects that interested computer and gaming enthusiasts at the time.
This part of my Svet Kompjutera magazine collection has special value because the complete year shows how the main topics changed over all twelve months.
Only one issue is missing from the 2016 set
I have 11 issues from 2016. Only the December issue is missing, so the yearly set is very close to being complete.
Although 2016 does not feel especially distant, its magazine covers already create a strong sense of nostalgia. Devices that were presented as new at the time now belong to an earlier period of technology.
Mobile phones had already become an essential part of everyday life. However, graphics cards, desktop computers, operating systems and major PC games still occupied a central place in the magazine.
WannaCry and the sealed issue from 2017
I have 10 different issues from 2017. The September and December issues are missing.
The most unusual item from that year is issue 6/2017, with the headline “WannaCry?”. I have one opened copy, but I also own another copy that has never been opened.
It remains inside its original plastic wrapping, which gives it a special place in the collection.
The front cover refers to the WannaCry cyberattack. That event demonstrated how quickly a computer security problem could spread and affect systems in many different countries.
The cover asks whether the reader has an up-to-date and properly patched version of Windows. Today, that question feels like a small document from the moment when computer security suddenly became a subject discussed far beyond specialist technology circles.
The complete 2018 yearly collection
The third complete yearly set in my collection is 2018. I have preserved all 12 monthly issues, from January to December.
The front covers feature processors, graphics cards, mobile phones, robots, artificial intelligence, games and space exploration. They show how the traditional computer world was becoming increasingly connected with smart devices and new digital platforms.
One issue asks “Rat u svemiru?”, or “War in Space?”, while another presents Intel Coffee Lake processors. Placed together, the twelve issues create a broad overview of the technology interests of that year.
The first five issues from 2019
The newest part of the collection contains the first five issues from 2019, covering January through May.
One of the most memorable front covers carries the headline “Roboti pod zemljom”, or “Robots Underground”. Robots, drones and automation were already becoming important subjects, although they still often felt like technologies waiting just beyond the present.
Today, similar systems appear much more frequently in industry, news and daily life. Returning to those articles shows how people discussed such ideas before they became more familiar.
More than magazines about computers
Svet Kompjutera was never interesting only because of technical specifications. Its pages followed the development of computers, mobile phones, internet services and games.
The old issues also preserve details that are easy to forget: earlier software designs, component prices, advertisements, phones with physical keyboards and the first versions of services that later became part of everyday life.
This is the same kind of nostalgia that makes people search for old consoles, cassette players, compact disc players and other objects from earlier decades. More examples can be found in my article about retro gifts and nostalgic ideas.
Physical media carries memories in a way that digital files rarely can. The same feeling appears in my story about cassette tapes, music, games and old memories.
A small technological time machine
From Crysis in 2007 and the early days of Android to The Witcher 2, WannaCry and the complete sets from 2014, 2015 and 2018, this collection follows more than a decade of change.
Some front covers now create pure nostalgia. Others look like early previews of the world in which we live today.
Certain technologies disappeared completely. Others became so ordinary that it is easy to forget how new and exciting they once seemed.
That is the real value of this Svet Kompjutera magazine collection. It is not simply old paper arranged on a shelf. It is a small technological time machine through computers, games, the internet and earlier ideas about the future.
This is only the beginning
This article presents the collection as a whole. However, almost every yearly set and many individual issues deserve a separate story.
Future articles will look more closely at old games, computer prices, mobile phones, advertisements, operating systems and predictions about future technology.
The Crysis issue from 2007, the beginning of Android in 2009, the complete sets from 2014, 2015 and 2018, and the opened WannaCry issue from 2017 are especially promising subjects.
For now, these 76 different issues remain together as a reminder of a time when a new world of technology was opened not by touching a screen, but by turning the next page.
Did you ever read Svet Kompjutera, and which issue or front cover do you remember most clearly?