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Free Software Magazine Inaugural Issue Released
T ony Merc Mobily writes "Free Software Magazine is a new magazine entirely dedicated to free software. It contains quality articles relating to both technical and non-technical issues. The magazine's goal is to publish good articles which are then released under a free license after publication. The magazine obviously needs subscribers - the more, the better!" It's nice to be able to download magazines as PDF files, too.
Huzzah, the pdf is free and doesn't look to shabby. Some interesting articles on OS X and live CD's. I hope their advertising model holds up.
There was an old Free Software Magazine that was backed by the FSF in China that had two issues and then died years ago (first issue was in Dec 2001).
Directory listing of FSM issues. They made #3 but I don't think it was ever officially released (I actually submitted a really bad draft of an article for it that ended up being 'published' because I lost net access for about six months...)
The old FSM was officially endorsed by the FSF. This one appears to not have that. It looks like it is far better written than the other FSM though. Not all of the articles are focused on Free Software though (e.g. the one in issue0 about OS X).
HAL 7000, fewer features than the HAL 9000, but just as homicidal!
Is this free as in "clean" freeware? I'm talking about non crippleware (ohhh you wanted to PRINT your file you made, sorry you gotta pay for that), non spyware/dialer funded (honey, what are all these calls to... Horny Grandmas R Us?), non adware?
This is a very nicely layed-out magazine with some good in-depth articles. Well done! There's even a 6-page 'blog' written by Richard Stallman at the end. It seems like most tech magazines focus on software/hardware reviews, where FSM's coverage includes many of the political and ideological topics in software engineering.
The magazine looks nice, and seems like a genuine effort. Not sure why it's in the "developers" section, but I guess there isn't anything else appropriate. I'm thrilled that it was done using LaTeX. They should try to get this in the book store chains.
The site says they have 'pills' and describes them as "hort, mostly unedited articles about free software written by our readers. They can be commentaries, editorials, and so on. Ideally, we will have one different pill every day."
I love the idea- but I don't know that I would put one right on the front page of the site. Today's pill contains a grammatical error in the first couple sentences. Until I did some poking around I thought it was an actual article. If I had not found the explanation above I would have written this magazine off.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
This really should have been a front-page article. The magazine looks really nice and has good articles in it. Disclaimer: I wrote one of them.
"Article in PDF format The content tail wags the IT dog by Daniel James
Without hardware and software, there would be nothing for digital media to be created on, or used with.{1} And yet the content industry attempts to tell the far larger IT industry what it can and cannot do."
I know no one cares (as witnessed by our tolerance of standards around here). But to be percise the content industry is telling* a small part of the electromics manufacturers, and smaller software industry what to do. The majority of both industries is rather indifferent to the whole issue.
*I'd even hesitate to use the word "telling". More like "We smell money. so we'll play ball". Kind of like the MS and OEM's situation in the early years.
{1} Nit pick time again. This is like debating who needs whom. The game console makers vs the game creators. The petroleum producers verses the car makers. The hardware makers can make all the DVD players they want, and the software makers can make DVD software players. But will the consumer buy either one without content. Some, but not as much as if one has the content providers on board. Around here, you all can debate ideology all you want (you have that luxury). However when you're running a business. Things are different.
How about you?
There: Something at a specific location.
Their: Owned by someone.
Please make sure your english compiles.
At US$71.40/year plus a US$10.00 "administration fee", it better get better fast. The articles are nice, but they don't justify a price that high.
The publishers clearly expect a decent number of ads, as they've reserved quite a bit of space, and even have a few of what appear to be paid ads. That's actually *very* good for the first issue of any new magazine.
I wish them luck, but I'll be browsing it online for a while before I subscribe to any periodical whose pricing is that far out of line with its market.
The subscription fee is a bit high, but the content is excellent. They say that they'll lower the subscription fees after they get more customers, so I hope they get enough people soon enough that they can lower the price and draw in even more people. It would be great for a magazine like this to succeed.
Here's an idea: For all of you that work IT jobs for companies that are willing to subscribe to various periodicals for you, why not get your employer to buy a subscription to this magazine?
Since 1997, there is Linux Focus Magazine
linuxfocus.org