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Linux Journal Ceases Publication (linuxjournal.com)
Not too long after Linus Torvalds wrote his own Unix kernel, which he called Linux, in the summer of 1991, a magazine was founded by enthusiasts to focus on the operating system. For more than two decades Linux Journal has been an authority magazine on all things Linux, often cited by mainstream outlets, but it is now shuttering doors. In a blog post, Linux Journal's Carlie Fairchild writes: It looks like we're at the end, folks. If all goes according to a plan we'd rather not have, the November issue of Linux Journal was our last. The simple fact is that we've run out of money, and options along with it. We never had a wealthy corporate parent or deep pockets of our own, and that made us an anomaly among publishers, from start to finish. While we got to be good at flying close to the ground for a long time, we lost what little elevation we had in November, when the scale finally tipped irrevocably to the negative. Thanks for all the fish.
Phil Hughes started LJ and eventually gave it to Carlie Fairchild when he left for South America. I believe that Bob Young was a seed funder but I don't think the journal ever had that big a capitalization. Running a magazine about Linux in the face of the torrent of information about it on the Internet was never an easy thing. It's incredible that she was able to keep it going this long, and I wish Carlie luck in her future endeavors.
Bruce Perens.
Because I've been using Linux since 2003 and never even heard of this magazine.
I used to have a subscription (I think I had it for 6-7 years), but when they went only to an electronic only version and dropped the dead-tree, I did not renew.
I wonder how many other people did the same thing.
Didn't have a 'fat pipe' nor a fast one either, back in the day.
It's incredible that she was able to keep it going this long
And sold with physical media (cd or dvd) off the stands!
Plus all the tech articles it was filled with, that outnumbered the ads. It will be missed.
It was a good run. Best of luck to the people who made it all work and muchas gracias.
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
I remember reading Linux Journal while flirting with the cute cashier at a local Tower Records. Today, Linux Journal is gone, Tower Records is gone, and that cute cashier is my friend on Facebook. At least the best element of that part of my life is still around...
I think a lot of what Linux Journal stood for is alive and well with Linux Weekly News. Yes, it's paywalled, but quality content costs real money to make, and the paywalled articles are made free to read after about a month.
Well organized, freely available information sources about Linux technical topics killed it.
Nowadays it's easier and cheaper to go to one of many free websites with thousands of articles and technical questions answered and indexed, than looking for a solution in an old magazine rack.
It is sad such a thing happened for the people making a living out of it, but it's good for Linux there are so many information sources nowadays.
That leaves, what? Linux Format: the 400 Lbs Gorilla of Linux reading material, with a price to match, Linux Magazine and distro-focused publications like Full Circle?
I do hope they get a chance to make a final run of the back edition PDF collection.
Many of the columns, such as David Taylor's work the shell, are timeless and quite useful.
There is value even the Letters to the Editors where smart or at least smart ass people suggested better or alternative ways to implement the various little projects detailed in LJ.
I also enjoyed the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML) summaries and discovered Reuven Lerner's python series through the magazine.
And there are always the Geek Guides.
"You cannot have a General Will unless you have shared experiences. You cannot be fair to people you don't know."
But if he had made a pro-Trump rant it would have been fine, right?
Nope. I don't subscribe to technical journals and magazines for politics of either kind. I subscribe for the technical information. Political commentary that wastes space on the page I'm paying for is a waste either way. You might note that I didn't say which way he ranted, because it was truly irrelevant.
If I want to waste my time reading political commentary, there's plenty of places I can get it for free, which is a bit more than the commentary is worth.
For those of my traveling contingent who think my comment was flamebait, nope. I simply made an observation of how the magazine had drifted away from its intended purpose. If that upsets you, well, sorry. I didn't say he had no right to do that. I didn't even say he was wrong. Just inappropriate for the medium he was using.