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Linux Journal Ceases Publication (linuxjournal.com)

Posted by msmash on from the end-of-an-era dept.

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.

12 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. cry cry cry by no-body · · Score: 4, Insightful

    what a loss...

  2. Welp by war4peace · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Another classical magazine succumbed to the advancement of technology it itself promoted.

    --
    ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    1. Re:Welp by bettodavis · · Score: 4, Interesting

      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.

  3. Re:Game over, Linux, game over. by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are you talking about the same Minix that's embedded in each and every Intel CPU since almost the last decade or so?

    Windows is the loser OS, you have to install it. Only losers install an operating system.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  4. Too bad by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.
  5. A damn shame. by Major_Disorder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I always like Linux Journal, it wasn't dumbed down, like so many things are these days.

    --
    First law of people: People are generally stupid.
    1. Re:A damn shame. by zeugma-amp · · Score: 5, Insightful

      True. I've been a subscriber for long enough to remember their (Monty) Python special issue. This is really sad that they couldn't keep it up even in an all digital format.

      --
      This is an ex-parrot!
    2. Re:A damn shame. by Obfuscant · · Score: 3, Interesting

      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.

    3. Re:A damn shame. by Obfuscant · · Score: 3, Insightful

      but it seems to me to be a sober reflection on the electoral campaign and the result.

      Had he stuck to that it would have been a much closer call. It became name calling, and that was too far.

      Here's the Linux connection: we need to hack news back in a logical direction, and away from the fact-free, misleading and emotion-stirring ways that news is made today.

      This is not a "linux connection". It is much bigger than linux. It's a social issue that neither linux nor Linus can fix, and it has been going on for a lot longer than today. Just because web hosting services may be running linux servers doesn't create the linux connection. It was a problem even back when Sun was the internet. It is likely to still be an issue when the next big thing replaces linux.

      Now that we've opened the floodgates to anyone and their brother putting their "news" online, it is impossible to go back -- without authoritarian control over what gets published. Somebody will have to be in charge of deciding what is "right" and what is "fake" and stopping the "fake" from being distributed somehow. Sadly, a lot of those who think they can decide for others what that "right" stuff is tend to think opinions that don't gibe with theirs are "fake". Facebook thinks they can do it for their "news feeds", but that doesn't seem to be highly successful. Twitter is going after "Russian connected accounts", but that's not going to solve anything.

      Every game of whack-a-mole for fake news misses most of the moles, and it creates someone who thinks it is their job to whack what they don't believe. The US first amendment was based on the idea that silencing objectionable speech was not the solution; commercial censorship is based entirely on the concept that it is.

      The result will be an internet that nobody likes, and even having linux on every desktop won't make it better.

  6. Dropped After Dead-Tree Printed Version Ended by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  7. I got my first Linux ISO from the coverdisc by Provocateur · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.
  8. Fire sale on the CD Collections by waveclaw · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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."