Slashdot Mirror
Andover.Net Acquires Freshmeat.Net
Today Andover.Net announced that they
have acquired Freshmeat. They promise
never to put scoop and I in the same room for fear of the carnage
that would ensue. (j/k). Actually scoop had all the same reasons
as I did: running Freshmeat has been a hectic one man show for a long
time. Andover has done of good job giving me the resources I've needed to allow Slashdot to expand, and now they'll give scoop the
same helping hand with fm. Very cool.
Let's just be glad you-know-who isn't acquiring all these websites..
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Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Anybody have any idea why Freshmeat is .net? It doesn't appear to be a network provider, and as far as I know, it never has been a network provider. I can excuse slashdot's .org, since it was a non-profit entity when the domain name was picked (and slashdot.com was already taken by the time the site whent commercial), but i see absolutely no reason why freshmeat should be .net.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Disclaimer: I work at Andover.Net.
That won't happen. We built LDC (Linux.DaveCentral)
to be different than any other Linux software
archive -- basically the category scheme and
content is different. We consider Freshmeat to
be for experienced Linux people and LDC is geared
toward Linux newbies so it is to everyone's
advantage that they be maintained separately.
Disclaimer: I work at Andover.Net.
Even if Microsoft tried to buy us (which is very
unlikely) Rob and scoop still by contract have
total creative control over their respective sites
and always have last say on what gets posted there.
Right now upper management here understands that
it's in Andover's best interests to let Rob and scoop maintain
their sites because whatever they're doing they're
doing it right because the IT crowd is coming here
in droves.
Disclaimer: You know...
I've stressed that to upper managers many times
here at Andover, and I think they're listening.
Slashdot and Freshmeat happen to be the two
favorite sites of the geeks working here so we
will be the first to cry loudly if our suits have
any funny ideas about either site.
Disclaimer: I work at Andover.Net (..and getting
/. as
tired of typing that)
Yes, Freshmeat will have one ad banner like
far as I know. Don't know what will happen to
existing mirrors -- right now we're indifferent
about mirrors. Our first priority is setting up
scoop on a rack of servers that can handle more
traffic.
Basically our attitude toward Freshmeat is the
same as Slashdot: let the existing site managers
do whatever they want and we feed them as much
hardware and bandwidth as they need to do it.
Slashdot and Freshmeat are significant services, by any standards. There's more -useful- news in Slashdot than your average newspaper, and yet Slashdot is free. There's more -useful- software announcements and articles on Freshmeat than most computer mags, yet it's the mags that cost the money.
I believe that payment to Slashdot and Freshmeat is both appropriate and in the spirit of the free software community. Yes, the programmers who made it all possible should get more than a nod of the head, but what's wrong with them marketing the non-software side of their skills? Such as documentation?
Ultimately, at the heart of it, are you programmers to write code that you enjoy, to scratch an itch, or programmers for profit, to scratch a perceived itch of someone else?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
In a sudden move, Andover.Net bought Microsoft, this afternoon. When asked about the deal, William (Pentium) Gates III said that it would ensure Windows 2000 got prominent placement on Freshmeat, and a review on Slashdot. When it was pointed out to the Chairman of Microsoft that nobody who read either service was likely to buy Windows 2000, he answered that he was aware of this. He just wanted to see computer geeks throw up over their keyboards.
Andover.Net declined to be interviewed, but issued a press statement that it would solve the energy crisis, should the Y2K bug shut down the national grid. By putting Scoop, CmdrTaco and Bill Gates in the same room, they expect a matter/antimatter reaction to be initiated, providing power to the US for the next century.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
I wonder what this means. Slashdot was certainly shaken up a bit at first, but now it seems to be back on track again (Roblimo is doing pretty well now!)
Currently Freshmeat has no source of income, right? They're quite a different animal from Slashdot. So I guess this means they'll start having banner ads, correct? And the mirroring by other companies would probably stop too, right? (I mean, it's one thing to do something out of the good of your heart for poor scoop, but what about for Andover?) Or maybe I'm reading too much into it. Just wondering what their plans are for it, since it's quite different from Slashdot.
Then you should be glad that Andover is aquiring freshmeat. I know scoop has a lot of ideas for Freshmeat and Andover can give him the resources needed to carry them out. I don't think it's so far fetched to think that we will see ways to customize the contents on Freshmeat according to personal taste.