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New Free Open Source Enterprise Magazine

An anonymous reader writes "A new free Open Source Enterprise magazine was launched today. The publication was built entirely with Open Source tools, including the GIMP, Scribus and Open Office. It is distributed in PDF format, and focuses on Open Source Solutions related to Enterprise Data Networking. The first issue looks at some interesting stuff include MultiLayer Switching in Linux. A torrent is also available."

86 comments

  1. PDF the format for magazines now? by ylikone · · Score: 3, Informative

    tuxmagazine.com also provides free magazines in PDF format. I've read through all of them and must say they are very good. But I do miss being able to hold something in my hands while I lie back in bed. A laptop is too awkward for casual reading of PDFs.

    --
    Meh.
    1. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by XXIstCenturyBoy · · Score: 2, Funny

      And as you are a Slashdot reader (ie : nerd), bringing tech magazines in bed is probably for more than just reading.

    2. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PDF is such an Open format.....

    3. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by ch-chuck · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Just use a printer. Certainly the cost of paper/toner/depreciation is less than your typical print issue.

      --
      try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    4. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by Onymous+Hero · · Score: 0, Troll
      For sale: domain name SLSAHDOT.COM
      I'm tempted to buy this just to stick a goatse, lemonparty or tubgirl redirect on it...
    5. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by advb89 · · Score: 0

      Ever heard of a printer?

      --
      <overrated>Insert Sig Here</overrated>
    6. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by Locke2005 · · Score: 2, Funny

      But I do miss being able to hold something in my hands while I lie back in bed. Yeah, I have the same problem whenever my wife is out of town...

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    7. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by BushCheney08 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      A laptop is too awkward for casual reading of PDFs.

      I've found that a laptop can work quite well for magazine/ebook style PDFs. Rotate the page 90 degrees and set the page to full screen. On my iBook I use Acrobat when I decide to do this. Rotate it clockwise (cmd-shift-+), hit cmd-L for full screen and flip the thing so the power cord is sticking out of the top. My thumb is resting right near the button to flip the page. If I need to go back a page I just reach up and press the left arrow. If you're going to be doing any extended reading, you may want to set the background color to a light cream color (it's in the accessability options). I realize this is purely a matter of taste, but like I said, I've found it comfortable enough to read through a few PDF ebooks this way...

      --
      Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
    8. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by MP3Chuck · · Score: 3, Informative

      PDF is an open format.

    9. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why not upload it to http://www.lulu.com/ and order a print copy?

    10. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by BiggerIsBetter · · Score: 1

      Would be better if they enabled the link-to-page features in the contents page. But then you wouldn't have to scroll past all the ads....

      --
      Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
    11. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I do miss being able to hold something in my hands while I lie back in bed"

      That's what your girlfriend's ass is for

    12. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Especially when you print it at work! :p

    13. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by rolandog · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Great tip,... I'd like to try it out,... to bad my laptop's HD drive died =(.

    14. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by Bert64 · · Score: 1

      Boot it from CD, it will generate less heat that way too and without the disk, the whole machine should be more tollerant of being dropped etc.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    15. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by Bert64 · · Score: 1

      Or even the proper pdf index feature, instead of having thumbnails of all the pages, pdf allows you to have an index which lists all topics/subtopics within the current document.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    16. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are soooo many features of PDF that are underutilized. Reading a PDF with the appropriate article links is very easy to do on-screen, and yes, it's also key to use the bookmarks as well to make it easy to get back to the top of the document.

    17. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by indiechild · · Score: 1

      I've always found my iBook to be too heavy to read comfortably this way. I do most of my reading sitting on the train or sitting up in bed. So I ended up using my Dell Axim most of the time. The screen is a bit too small though.

      Bring on an ultra light-weight 10" Apple tablet Mac!

    18. Re:PDF the format for magazines now? by CyberdogOSX · · Score: 0

      not to mention that a laptop is too unwieldy when sitting in my office. and by office i mean bathroom. and by sitting i mean.....

  2. So say by cyberbob2010 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    someone was willing to take it upon themselves to work their asses off in their free time and get the best content from developers, users, etc... and were to try and create a physical add supported magazine would you subscribe?

    --
    We seldom regret saying too little but often regret saying too much.
    1. Re:So say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not sure how one would fund a magazine with Attention Deficit Disorder, or addition, so I'm going to assume you meant AD, as in ADvertisement funded.

  3. Oops! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The guys over at Linux Journal are gonna be PISSED!

  4. Re:Is this really necessary? by kfg · · Score: 1

    "Is the CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation suddenly going to replace his reliable expensive Solaris clusters running Oracle with a bunch of cheap Linux blades running MySQL. . ."

    Good Lord! I hope not.

    KFG

  5. define "Enterprise" by Gothmolly · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This could be a cool magazine, although if their definition of "Enterprise" differs from reality, it will backfire. I hope that they don't write up a bunch of articles on how to scan logs with Perl, or install RedHat's commercial Linux on a Dell server. Please, no "IPTables is just as good as a Checkpoint" or "Squid is better than MS-ISA" kinds of articles. Those decisions are already made, settled, done, bought, and paid for.
    Lets see articles on how to integrate disparate systems, how the Linux version of Oracle runs better per dollar, etc.

    --
    I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
    1. Re:define "Enterprise" by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 1

      Too late. I hear Bruce Perens has a column.

      --
      resigned
    2. Re:define "Enterprise" by BokLM · · Score: 1

      Those decisions are already made, settled, done, bought, and paid for.

      And how do you think thoses decisions are made ? By reading "Enterprise" magazines of course ...

  6. Re:Is this really necessary? by afd8856 · · Score: 1

    I doubt a free software can replace one that costs millions. But I believe that OS software can replace comercial ones that cost 50k - 200k. (Plone being such an example)

    --
    I'll do the stupid thing first and then you shy people follow...
  7. Oh man... by Cytlid · · Score: 1, Insightful

    ...I just realized how much of a nerd I really am, by getting excited about this. Time to convert it to reflow format for the pda...

    --
    FLR
    1. Re:Oh man... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm actually disapointed. I thought it had something to do with Star Trek.

  8. Re:Is this really necessary? by syukton · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We in the Open Source community need to stop being so introspective, and start MARKETING the advantages of open source to the suits.

    Um, that's what this magazine does. This issue includes information about rolling your own telephony system with open source tools to reduce costs and infrastructure requirements.

    It's a one-two punch: a magazine ABOUT open-source solutions, created WITH open-source solutions. Just on virtue of them using open-source software to create the magazine they've demonstrated one area where open source can shine. Every time they publish a new issue this fact will be highlighted.

    --
    Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
  9. Why do you geeks love crippleware? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    n/t

  10. textcast by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    It would be need if they could made a podcast stype of distribution for this - or maybe an rss e-book?

    1. Re:textcast by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 2, Insightful

      now there's a good idea. why advertize the software of the future using yesterday's technology?

      --
      "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
    2. Re:textcast by JazzCrazed · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't think Scribus supports that kind of output (certainly not the podcast, for sure). Its main output is PDF/X-3, which is appropriate since layouts in Scribus, similar to Adobe Indesign, are capable of containing vector images (as well as raster images), and PDF can contain either. The magazine surely could be formatted as RSS or some other XML, but then you'd be downloading the XML and the images separately.

    3. Re:textcast by agraupe · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure the point of the GP's post was that the magazine should be made using XML, but that it should be distributed in the same manner as a podcast. This makes perfect sense because, in a podcast, the music isn't distributed as XML. It's an interesting idea, certainly. Perhaps there would be some kind of a market for a "syndicated torrent" type thing...

  11. Handy-man. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "But I do miss being able to hold something in my hands while I lie back in bed."

    Most geeks don't have this problem.

  12. ftp site /.ed? by cwg_at_opc · · Score: 1

    did anyone make a coral cache of the pdf? i can't connect to their ftp site.

    --
    "...that's as white as it gets; all the bits are on..."
    1. Re:ftp site /.ed? by chronicon · · Score: 3, Informative
      Bittorrent is your friend...

      http://www.o3magazine.com/o3issue1.torrent

      Seriously... this is so the way to go to avoid getting /.'d...

    2. Re:ftp site /.ed? by fparri · · Score: 1

      Can anyone mirror the torrent file? I can't seem to be able to get it from the magazine web site? :)

    3. Re:ftp site /.ed? by fparri · · Score: 1

      I found it :)

  13. Hell NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Information wants to be FREE AS IN BEER. And I am a stinking basement-dwelling Lunix user who resents paying for ANYTHING, no matter how useful it might be.

    1. Re:Hell NO! by cyberbob2010 · · Score: 0, Troll

      k, lol. but i said that it would be free....free as in beer.... second, wtf is with modding me as a troll? wtf is troll like about that post?

      --
      We seldom regret saying too little but often regret saying too much.
    2. Re:Hell NO! by cyberbob2010 · · Score: 1

      lmao!!! haaahahaha, i guess some script kiddie got mad that dared to post something against his beliefs...

      --
      We seldom regret saying too little but often regret saying too much.
  14. Re:Is this really necessary? by Killall+-9+Bash · · Score: 0
    Is the CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation suddenly going to replace his reliable expensive Solaris clusters running Oracle with a bunch of cheap Linux blades running MySQL just because he read it in an online "magazine"?


    The fact that you find this implausable leads me to believe you've never been employeed.
    --
    "Prediction: within 10 years, Windows will be a Linux distribution." Me, 7-6-2016
  15. Target audience? by kebes · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've looking over issue #1 and am wondering who exactly the target audience is. At first, I would have assumed it was for hard-core FOSS-lovers who want to know how they can convince their boss to use the latest OSS application (or who want to know about "the next big enterprise OSS" thing that they should give a try). However, consider some of these quotes:

    An article on page 15 ("Opening the Jar on Google Honeypots") explains: "With this growth in the Internet, a problem arose: finding the page with the information you are actually looking for. This is where search engines come into play, allowing Internet users to find the page that they want."

    On page 23, they have an article "An Introduction to Linux and Open Source for Business" written in a Q&A style. The first question is "What is this 'Open Source' thing I keep hearing about?"

    You get the idea. These articles are clearly targetted at people who have no experience with OSS, but are curious. They even seem to be targetted at management-types who may be interested in learning about new trends in technology. There are other articles that are clearly aimed at a more experience and techno-saavy crowd. So I guess they are really trying to cover the board, and get a wide variety of people reading their magazine.

    I guess I'm wondering if that's the best strategy. For a printed magazine, I can understand trying to appeal to newbies and zealots alike, since they both have good reasons for buying the magazine. For a web-only magazine, however, I strongly suspect that the only people who will ever read it will be the geek crowd anyways, in which case it seems like a bit of a waste to have so many introductory articles.

    1. Re:Target audience? by Chris+Bradshaw · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "it seems like a bit of a waste to have so many introductory articles"

      I see your point, however; there is some real value to this model as I see it... The folks charged with making the final decisions about wether or not to deploy an OSS technology, are more often than not, afraid of non-COTS apps. I happen to be lucky enough to work in a development house that largly utilizes OSS. And even then, while the development staff, engineers, etc... all get the picture and are ready to dive in head first, this is often not the case with managment - and that's where the "n00bie" stuff comes into play.

      This magazine is perfect for printing out and passing up the food chain to illicit more support and more funding from the folks who are really deciding the fate of OSS.

      --
      Get your Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool Here for FREE! - http://fedora.redhat.com
  16. Re:Seed the torrent, biatches by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Come on folks, I'm only getting 2K/sec download.

    Stop using dial-up!

    j/k

  17. some problems. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    if it is for who i think it is for then they really need to work on parts of their delivery, the content seems good.

    for example:
    In the "buisness" section that explains opensource and the OS licenses and such, there is a panel on the last page where some guy is quoted and he uses "FUD". There is no explination of the term. Did i miss the memo that went out to everyone's bosses explaining these sorts of terms?

    1. Re:some problems. by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 1

      Most people, even non-techies know what FUD is. Especially if they buy technology for Fortune 500 companies. But all in all, I see this thing folding up in 5... 4... 3... 2... Now.

      --
      "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  18. Re:Is this really necessary? by georgewilliamherbert · · Score: 4, Informative
    Is the CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation suddenly going to replace his reliable expensive Solaris clusters running Oracle with a bunch of cheap Linux blades running MySQL just because he read it in an online "magazine"?
    In some cases, yes.

    In some cases, yes, despite it being more expensive in the end due to higher administration costs.

    Open source is happening; I am a pretty darn senior IT consultant by day, and large enterprises in the IT space are building stuff with it.

    Smart ones are also doing true life cycle cost estimates, and functional and reliability trade studies and analysis, and in some cases are chosing not to use open source or only use it for limited applications.

    But it's here, for real.

    I am not an open source zealout; I spent several years at a Sun VAR and am quite familiar with "commrecial" OSes, enterprise infrastructure and business applications, etc. I still have a good relationship with local Sun VARs and will recommend Sun/Solaris/Veritas/(pick your major brand storage)/Oracle etc when technically and financially and operationally appropriate. Which they still are for significant parts of the enterprise IT problems set.

    But Linux is clearly heeerrreeeee....

  19. Re:Is this really necessary? by sloanster · · Score: 1

    Would you feel better if he replaced his reliable expensive Solaris clusters running Oracle with a bunch of reliable Linux blades running Oracle? It happens more than you think.

  20. The making of O3 in a special O3 issue? by gummyb34r · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It would be very interesting (at least for me) to read about the making of O3. The open source DTP solution is somewhat disputed these days.

    1. Re:The making of O3 in a special O3 issue? by bladesjester · · Score: 1

      I think I probably speak for John and the others at O3 when I say thank all of you for the encouragement. It's been a learning experience getting the first issue out the door and we hope to have many successful issues in the future. (hopefully without John getting food poisoning again =] )

      As it is, he's trying to talk me into doing interviews about the magazine and how we went about making it (I'm the exec editor). Personally, I think I'll sleep for a while first since I really haven't for a few days, but I look forward to being able to answer questions.

      --
      Everything I need to know I learned by killing smart people and eating their brains.
    2. Re:The making of O3 in a special O3 issue? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1
      You magazine looks interesting, and I would potentially be interested in writing for it. Your next issue is focusing on RAD tools, and I would be interested in covering the GNUstep tools (NeXT, after all, invented RAD, and some of the recent stuff coming out of the GNUstep project has enormous potential).

      Your offer of a t-shirt for contributors, however, is not competitive. I mainly write for two online publications at the moment. One is an established organization and pays in real money (well, US dollars, which are a little bit like real money). The other is a small start-up, which offered me some shares in exchange for the odd article periodically. I would be interested in doing some work for you under similar terms. Contact me offline if you're interested.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  21. Free Software Magazine? by tonymercmobily · · Score: 1

    Hello,

    I am in touch with John Buswell: he is really dedicated, and I am sure the magazine will go far.
    What I don't understand, though, is why O3 made it on Slashdot the minute it came out, while Free Software Magazine didn't - never.

    No wonder Digg is going strong the way it is. Moody moderator to pick stories make moody decisions.

    Merc.

    1. Re:Free Software Magazine? by BiggerIsBetter · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Somebody call the Whaaambulance!

      This magazine is far more usable than the FSM one - I didn't have to click past the blog front page, ignore the bazillion ads flashing at me, pick an issue, then scroll down 6 screens to see if I want to read anything.

      O3 has a concise current issue content list on the website's home page. The static ads are IN the magazine, not flashing and surrounding it. It took me 3 looks to even see there was a (lime green?!) link to the current issue of FSM on that website, then I had to read a paragraph to get an idea of what's in it. There's just no contest as far as presentation goes.

      --
      Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
    2. Re:Free Software Magazine? by georgewilliamherbert · · Score: 1

      FSM is a geek magazine (think Mondo2000 and Wired) and O3 is a IT management magazine (think Information Week or CIO Magazine).

      Geeks are not taking over the world, even if our software is. If you want to sell ideas, you sell it to people in formats and terms they understand. This is doing that, for the IT managers...

    3. Re:Free Software Magazine? by tonymercmobily · · Score: 1

      ---------
      Somebody call the Whaaambulance!

      This magazine is far more usable than the FSM one - I didn't have to click past the blog front page, ignore the bazillion ads flashing at me, pick an issue, then scroll down 6 screens to see if I want to read anything.
      ---------

      I like O3, so I am not going to comment on the contents.
      It does surprise me, however, that:

      * You based your judgement solely on the *presentation* (a lot of people wouldn't agree woth you anyway)
      * You didn't make any effort to actually improve Free Software Magazine

      Sorry, I've gotta go. I must run to the news stand and look for the most "usable" magazine.
      Sigh.

      Merc.

    4. Re:Free Software Magazine? by BiggerIsBetter · · Score: 1

      Yes, but there's no reason that a Geek magazine can't present technical information in a similarly effective manner. Conciseness and clean formats aren't just about selling stuff to management, they're about getting information across quickly. I'm a developer (mostly) and I just don't have time to sift through sites like FSM. I shouldn't need to use Adblock just to find an article.

      The O3 mag had a short content list on the main page, which directed me to a good and informative write up on Lighttpd. I found it, scanned it, learned something, and will evaluate it for a project soon. I still don't really know what's in the current FSM mag...

      One thing I did notice though, was that FSM is actually advertised in this issue of O3.

      --
      Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
    5. Re:Free Software Magazine? by BiggerIsBetter · · Score: 1

      • You based your judgement solely on the *presentation* (a lot of people wouldn't agree woth you anyway)
      • You didn't make any effort to actually improve Free Software Magazine

      See my post above for reasons why I'm judging it on presentation. I'm sure that both have good information in them, I just don't have time to sift through the cruft to find it.

      Someone has obviously put a lot of effort into FSM, and good on them for doing it, but people get a bit pissy when a random person starts undermining their good efforts. Also, what's in it for me if I do try to improve it?

      "Right then, ditch the website ad revenue because it's cluttering the content. If you must use AdWords, put them at the bottom - not right where people look for the content. Make a bullet list with the issue's contents on the main page and under each issue heading in the archives. And don't use that lime green text, it's hard to read - use black or white text for each article heading, and a lime green background box for each heading if you want to keep those colours. And blank space isn't necessarily advertising space - it can be a useful tool for focusing attention elsewhere."

      I'd expect to told to bugger off, not get thanked for my 10 minutes of thought.

      --
      Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
    6. Re:Free Software Magazine? by tonymercmobily · · Score: 3, Insightful

      ------
      See my post above for reasons why I'm judging it on presentation. I'm sure that both have good information in them, I just don't have time to sift through the cruft to find it.
      ------

      OK, point taken.

      ------
      Someone has obviously put a lot of effort into FSM, and good on them for doing it, but people get a bit pissy when a random person starts undermining their good efforts. Also, what's in it for me if I do try to improve it?
      -------

      Well, I happen to be FSM's editor in chief. I guess I am "them"!
      What's in it for me...?

      * Improving a site that works towards the creation of free (as in FREEDOM) contents
      * Getting to give something back to the community

      Why do people send patches to GNU/Linux? Why do people help free software projects?
      Why have we worked on FSM for _free_ for more than one year?
      (I guess the answer shouldn't be "to be told that it takes too many clicks to get to the contents")

      ----------
      "Right then, ditch the website ad revenue because it's cluttering the content. If you must use AdWords, put them at the bottom - not right where people look for the content.
      ----------

      No worries. I am assuming you are willing to send us a monthly cheque - that's great! We will use that money for hosting.

      ------
      Make a bullet list with the issue's contents on the main page
      ------

      Which issue exactly? The latest?
      Where do you suggest we should put annuncements and latest articles?

      --------
        and under each issue heading in the archives.
      ----------

      Do you know how big this page woud become in let's say 3 months?

      Doing things is actually much harder than talking about them, you see. If you set up a mock site with FSM the way you think it should look, I will me more than happy to apply the changes.
      (A word or warning: we've tried already)

      -----
      And don't use that lime green text, it's hard to read - use black or white text for each article heading, and a lime green background box for each heading if you want to keep those colours. And blank space isn't necessarily advertising space
      ------

      See above. A mock site would be most welcome.

      Bye,

      Merc.

  22. Re:Is this really necessary? by kfg · · Score: 1

    "Would you feel better if he replaced his reliable expensive Solaris clusters running Oracle with a bunch of reliable Linux blades running Oracle?"

    Quite a bit, yes. Bear in mind that I'm also on record as detesting Oracle, even at times questioning the intelligence, professional competence and parantage of anyone who would work for the company as a programer.

    "It happens more than you think."

    I doubt it.

    KFG

  23. double standard? by bhav2007 · · Score: 1

    The publication was built entirely with Open Source tools, including the GIMP, Scribus and Open Office.

    Is this really something to be bragged about? It just seems like it should go without saying that a publication about open source would be written with OSS. I mean, if M$ created a publication with OSS, the laughter would probably inspire it's own news stories at many websites.

    Just kinda shows how OSS isn't quite mainstream yet.

    [ducking]I love linux! I love linux![/ducking]

  24. Huh? by OneIsNotPrime · · Score: 4, Funny

    "The publication was built entirely with Open Source tools, including the GIMP, Scribus and Open Office. It is distributed in PDF format..."

    One of these things is not like the others,
    One of these things just doesn't belong,
    Can you tell which thing is not like the others
    By the time I finish my song?

    --

    ---

    WARNING:Slashdot karma not redeemable in the afterlife.

    1. Re:Huh? by noamt · · Score: 1

      OpenOffice can create PDFs.

    2. Re:Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh you ARE a moron. PDF is open, and there are variants such as PDF/X-3 that are an ISO standard (15930-3:2002). Get a grip! The fact that both OpenOffice.org and Scribus produce PDFs should tell you that. BTW, did you know that Scribus was the first OSS/non-OSS DTP app to support PDF/X-3?

    3. Re:Huh? by OneIsNotPrime · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the info. No thanks for the petty insult, Coward.

      --

      ---

      WARNING:Slashdot karma not redeemable in the afterlife.

  25. Open Source Enterprise Magazine? by RyoShin · · Score: 1

    Man, that's not only cool, it's OSEM.

  26. Am I the only one... by Altima(BoB) · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one who read the headline and thought "What kind of magazine could they make out of a cancelled show? Get over it!"

    Even on Slashdot, too much slashdot can mess up your interpretive skills

    --
    Yup...
  27. um... hello? by Run4yourlives · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm going to assume you're talking about pdf here. I'll also assure you that the format is indeed open

  28. Re:Is this really necessary? by georgewilliamherbert · · Score: 1

    I should clarify something. I didn't mean to mention twice that OSS solutions and Linux sometimes cost more than commercial non-open solutions without mentioning that commercial non-open solutions also sometimes cost more than OSS solutions.

    I have seen it go both ways in project detailed analysis, depending on the problem set and business' operations and IT standards. Accidentally implying that OSS was more expensive all the time was not my intention, and I certainly don't believe that.

  29. Newsletter by Andrewkov · · Score: 1

    Your magazine sounds interesting and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter. ..oh, uh, never mind.

  30. THANKS for the tip buddy!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    I've found that a laptop can work quite well for magazine/ebook style PDFs. Rotate the page 90 degrees and set the page to full screen.

    Thanks for the tip! This will make viewing porn much more, uh, pleasant.

  31. Open source by yourlink · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Do you care what kind of tools you car was built with?

    --
    www.loudernet.com
    1. Re:Open source by Tuross · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well, yes, I do in fact care what tools my car was built with. And I also like the fact when I take it to the mechanic for a service I can talk with him, go into his workshop and inspect his tools, and I get the choice of what parts go into my car.

      --
      Matt
      1. Read Slashdot
      2. ???
      3. Profit
    2. Re:Open source by Equis · · Score: 1

      Well, *I* don't care, but I'll bet a mechanic or anyone that would read these would.

      Make the leap.

    3. Re:Open source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, actually.

  32. Ad-supported is dangerous by tmasssey · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Ad-supported magazines can put you in a very uncomfortable spot.

    I used to read a free, ad-supported magazine for a techie operating system back in the day (OS/2 Professional). They eventually went to a subscriber-paid model. The reason for this was that they published a negative review of a piece of software, one that was advertised in their magazine. They were significantly pressured by the advertiser to not publish the review, or to change their conclusions.

    How often do you see eWeek totally trash a product? Sure, they point out downsides, but it seems that everything they write about is described in an overall positive light. Why? They too are an advertiser-paid magazine!

    Unless that's the type of magazine you want to publish, it's hard to go advertiser-only...

    1. Re:Ad-supported is dangerous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      that's silly reasoning.

      It's the same problem that all magazines face. The cost of the subscription is mainly for distribution stuff.. advertising supports all magazines that I read, except for lwn.net.

      Advertising is were the money is.. always has been, always will be. Go to the store and look at all those magazines on the shelf.. were do you think that they make the majority of money from?

      On the internet distribution costs are near null. You can make more money buy doing a freely distributable magazine that's popular then a subscription-only one that isn't.

      If you publish a negative review you may loose a advertiser.. but what about it's competator? Looks like a good oppertunity for more money.

      Ultimately it comes down to ethics. If you don't trust the source of the material your reading, then you don't. There are plenty of subscription magazines that I wouldn't considure lining a bird cage with.

  33. Re:Is this really necessary? by stephenbooth · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A more likely scenario is that the CEO will replace his reliable and expensive (but the purchase costs were written off 2 years ago and it's well bedded in with minimal support costs so, on paper at least, it's currently close to free) cluster running Oracle for a bunch of over priced blades running Windows 2003 and Microsoft SQL Server (plus have to retrain all their support staff) on the strength of an article in eWeek or a Gartner Report.

    Stephen

    --
    "Don't write down to your readers, the only people less intelligent than you can't read" - Sign on Newspaper Office Wall
  34. Re:Is this really necessary? by hughk · · Score: 1

    You don't retrain anyone these days. You just tell your Indians to go and find another bunch of Indians who happen to know Linux! Support costs are built into the contract so there tends not to be any big thing either way. It is just that there seem to be more MCSEs than Linux admins in Chennai.

    --
    See my journal, I write things there
  35. Re:Is this really necessary? by BokLM · · Score: 1

    Why do you doubt a free software can't replace one that cost millions ?

  36. Graphic design by nezmar · · Score: 1

    From a quick look the graphic design of the layout frankly is disappointing: overly simplistic and lacking any design value it all looks like it was executed by an amateur without a proper DTP tool (say, a word processor).