Early Christmas for NYT.com Visitors

From the TimeSelect FAQ:

Why is TimesSelect ending?
Since we launched TimesSelect in 2005, the online landscape has altered significantly. Readers increasingly find news through search, as well as through social networks, blogs, and other online sources. In light of this shift, we believe offering unfettered access to New York Times reporting and analysis best serves the interest of our readers, our brand, and the long-term vitality of our journalism.

We encourage everyone to read our news and opinion – as well as share it, link to it and comment on it. Our highest priority is to increase the reach and impact of our journalism online. The Times’s Op-Ed and news columns are now available free of charge, along with Times File and News Tracker. In addition, The New York Times online Archive is now free back to 1987 for all of our readers.

And just in time too!  Since I have gotten back into writing again (as seems to happen every fall), I was finding myself frustrated with the NYT’s "paywall" between me and my favorite columnists like Paul Krugman.  I had gone as far as considering coughing up money for access.  So imagine my surprise when this morning I woke up an an early Christmas present from the folks at the New York Times. 

Even better than access to the opinion columns, which tended to show up almost in their entirety on blogs or journals around the Innerwebs, the New York Times is making it’s online archives available.  This gives us access to news back to 1981.  For example, if you wondered what GWB was doing back in August of 1989 you can find out that he was in Maine playing golf with his dad watching his presidential father refuse to answer reporters questions about an economic aid package for Poland.

The President was asked about Poland as he played golf with his son, George W. Bush, at the Cape Arundel Golf Club on a beautiful, breezy afternoon. ”No comment,” said the President, who is usually willing to chat to reporters about his game but not about foreign affairs. Asked how his vacation was going, he replied, ”Now we’re talking.” Bush ‘Would Encourage’ Polish Shift, Aide Says

I foresee the use of the NYT archive as an excellent way to settle arguements, much like the original purpose of the Guiness Book of World Records.