Why Techrights is Totally Unexcited About the New Owner of Linux Journal

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2020-09-27 04:10:44 UTC
Modified: 2020-09-27 04:10:44 UTC

Summary: Linux Journal might soon become an anti-Linux site (veiled hostility) if Slashdot's editorial preferences are anything to go by (Slashdot has just seized control of Linux Journal)

AS we noted the other day, Linux Journal changed hands from the top sponsor of the FSF to the same company that runs Slashdot. We explained our concerns about it. The following screenshot of the front page of Slashdot's "Linux" section (Linux.Slashdot.org) ought to be self-explanatory, but we annotated it with red lines:

Linux.Slashdot.org

How many actual stories about actual Free software and GNU/Linux are missing from the above? Plenty. It reads more like a Microsoft site, not Linux.Slashdot.org.

If there's no magazine in circulation, then what exactly will be Slashdot's "business model" for Linux Journal? Same as ZDNet's? "Linux" is Microsoft? "Linux" is Windows? "Linux" is dangerous? Slashdot has been no "lover" of GNU/Linux since Rob Malda sold it. In the above (latest stories), it's mostly negative stories about Linux and promotion of Microsoft's proprietary software (even with "dupes", e.g. the Hyper-V so-called 'story'). What's the editor smoking? Does the editor even use GNU/Linux? If those same people intend to edit the 'new' Linux Journal, it'll effectively become an anti-Linux site and a disservice to GNU/Linux users. That's not unlike what Slashdot was for the past decade and a half.

"If there's no magazine in circulation, then what exactly will be Slashdot's "business model" for Linux Journal?"We'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now (w.r.t. Linux Journal), but we're not optimistic.

Having watched rather closely the responses to this unexpected takeover, I can see a former editor (Petros Koutoupis, whom we spoke to before) stating: "What a surprise it was when I noticed on Twitter earlier this afternoon that “Linux Journal is back.” Before we get too excited, I need to make it known that this is not the same Linux Journal from before. [...] What this means is that none of the original staff is part of the second Linux Journal revival. That includes myself. To make it clear, I have nothing to do with the new new Linux Journal (yes, 2x “new”)."

Quite a disclaimer upfront. When I first saw that I interpreted this as, "don't hold me accountable for what they do next..." ⬆

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Why Techrights is Totally Unexcited About the New Owner of Linux Journal

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