Better name? [LWN.net]

Better name?

Posted Dec 15, 2002 5:15 UTC (Sun) by coriordan (guest, #7544)
In reply to: Better name? by Peter
Parent article: The LWN.net 2002 Linux Timeline

:) Thanks for clarifying that one for me.

> biggest problem with LWN - the scope is a little broad

yeh, maybe a survey to find out what the paying readership cares about
could help LWN to focus.

I like hearing about GNU/Linux and some *BSD news but I really don't give
a rats about Oracle applications being ported etc.

News about major non-Free software can be relevant but a two-liner usually
would suffice. It's often hard to believe anyway, it's all been filtered
through a bunch of marketing clowns before the public/free press hears
about it.

(the 'L' in LWN is quite inaccurate but I suppose it's become a brand name,
a change to FSWN may cause confusion)

Any chance of a survey?

Ciaran O'Riordan

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LWN on-topic vs off-topic content

Posted Dec 15, 2002 7:16 UTC (Sun) by Peter (guest, #1127) [Link]

(the 'L' in LWN is quite inaccurate but I suppose it's become a brand name, a change to FSWN may cause confusion)

Agreed. And don't take away the convenient 7-letter URL! (:

To clarify my position: I like reading about more than just Linux here. I like reading about the BSDs, and Mozilla, and XFree86, and The HURD, and Wine, and other free software. I like reading about free software politics - DRM, DMCA, Eldred, b-flag, and the doings of the EFF. I like reading about new frontiers for free software - Tivo runs Linux, Compuserve uses Gecko, Company Foo rolls out massive POS upgrade with Linux thin clients, Ogg Tremor ported to iPod. I like - to a lesser extent - hearing about non-free software in the context where it is competing with free software - viz. Microsoft, Apple, Fraunhofer.

What I don't like are stories that have nothing to do with free software or related freedoms - news articles that happen to mention Linux once, 2/3 of the way down the article, or press releases about a new version of Oracle that does this, that and the other thing, and oh by the way Linux is one of 15 supported platforms, or news about uninteresting companies like Corel that once upon a time did something related to free software.

Just a subscriber datapoint. (:

LWN on-topic vs off-topic content

Posted Dec 16, 2002 10:50 UTC (Mon) by alan (subscriber, #4018) [Link]

For what it is worth as a subscriber, I would also like to see more *BSD news, but frankly there doesn't seem to be that much coverage in the press. Kerneltrap does a decent job of mixing all free unix kernel info.

Oracle, and news about other major application vendors, et al. may not matter to you very much, but there are whole worlds of people to whom this information does matter, part of my job as an admin is in finding solutions for my employer on linux as a platform, and therefore am most certianly interested. Also LWN is trying to attract corporate accounts, people to whom this sort of information matters. What is nice about the LWN format is that it is nicely broken up and I can quickly scan down to things that are most relevant to me.

Since I like to be up to date, aware, and at least semi knowledgeable about things that don't even directly affect me, I end up reading the full bigpage. I never can get enough. Kudos to LWN for a job very well done, between lkml, kerneltrap, and your kernel page, I stay well informed.