About paying to use The Gauge...firstly, I'd do it, once the bugs are worked out. I don't want to pay for something in progress or continually behind expectations (read any of the angry posts on the 1:64 modeling guide Yahoo group about that debaucle). That said, I think the progress to the new Guage is evident and I'm glad to stick with it through the changes.
Next just some philosophical thoughts in general about where I think the hobby press is going in the future. I think the internet and specifically groups like this are hurting the hobby press. Sure, there will always be folks who want a print copy of a magazine. But I can see the day in the (distant?) future when the big guys like Kalmbach and Carstens go all digital and a subscription to a magazine will be subscribing to a forum such as this, where a monthly (weekly?) set of feature columns will be produced.
The transition is already happening. MR has "subscriber only" content (you must be a paper magazine subscriber to access this) on their site as well as a forum. It's only a matter of time until the monthly magazine is available at a reduced rate in PDF format for download and both forms coexist. How'd you like your MR available on podcast? What about a video tutorial/demo each month? It is happening.
Just my futurist ramblings.