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Free Software Magazine Inaugural Issue Released

Posted by timothy on from the get-your-download-on dept.

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.

6 of 23 comments (clear)

  1. Old FSM? by Unknown+Lamer · · Score: 2, Informative

    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!
  2. Great magazine by jkauzlar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:Great magazine by tanguyr · · Score: 3, Informative

      from their subscription page:

      "Subscriptions are our main source of income, and we offer free advertising to free software companies."

      Now that's putting your money where your mouth is.

      --
      #!/usr/bin/english
  3. Too bad this isn't front page news by twistedcubic · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  4. They have my subscription by mikefe · · Score: 2

    How about you?

    --
    There: Something at a specific location.
    Their: Owned by someone.
    Please make sure your english compiles.
  5. Priced ridiculously high by JohnQPublic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.