Sponsored link
Vyatta –
Linux & Open Source
Alternative to Cisco –
Advanced Routing,
Firewall, VPN, QoS..
Free Download ->
| |||||||||||
Ten-year timeline part 4: the end and the beginningTen-year timeline part 4: the end and the beginningPosted Jan 31, 2008 1:43 UTC (Thu) by rahvin (subscriber, #16953)Parent article: Ten-year timeline part 4: the end and the beginning
People are willing to subscribe because unlike sites like Slate there is real journalism on LWN. In an era where Journalism has died and most publications are nothing more than slightly upscale tabloids LWN has stayed with real unbiased reporting of facts with the occasional editorial. As a highly technical publication covering such a broad range of the Linux world it's an essential source of information, because as your other co-founder said, not everyone can subscribe to 150 newsgroups and mailing lists and sort out what matters. Keep up the solid commitment to real journalism and keep the in depth coverage of Linux and I think you can even grow the subscriber base as Linux adoption continues.
(Log in to post comments)
Ten-year timeline part 4: the end and the beginning Posted Jan 31, 2008 16:39 UTC (Thu) by kirkengaard (subscriber, #15022) [Link] Agreed. LWN is worth my subscription (or lump sums, depending on my income at any given time) exactly because of the high S:N here. Even when I've read the news which is posted here on its original pages, a) it is noteworthy that LWN mentions it, and b) the comments from readers here are usually worth a better look than some other news outlets. High-signal, high-clue newshounding and editing, with higher-than-average-clue readership. Consider that no other place would be likely to get away with such a text-centric design, and still draw readership. It's the quality of the product over the packaging.
Ten-year timeline part 4: the end and the beginning Posted Jan 31, 2008 21:04 UTC (Thu) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link] Adding piles of low-info graphics would make the presentation *worse*, so I don't buy that. (I just buy a subscription.)
Ten-year timeline part 4: the end and the beginning Posted Jan 31, 2008 17:00 UTC (Thu) by iabervon (subscriber, #722) [Link] Actually, I think that people subscribe to LWN in large part because there's real tech writing. The journalism is a good thing, too, of course, but I think that keeping your editor writing documentation for 2-3 kernel features each week would be worth indulging his choice of business even if it weren't beneficial on its own merits. On the other hand, I think that LWN is in a better position to do good journalism because it has an secure value in the technical articles independent of the popularity of the news it reports.
Ten-year timeline part 4: the end and the beginning Posted Feb 1, 2008 13:32 UTC (Fri) by stevem (subscriber, #1512) [Link] Seconded! Great news summaries, plus good technical articles. Keep them coming please.
Ten-year timeline part 4: the end and the beginning Posted Jan 31, 2008 17:34 UTC (Thu) by graydon (subscriber, #5009) [Link] Agreed. This is the only website I've ever paid for a subscription. LWN seems to be one of the only sites produced by people who understand the value equation of time and editing. Most sites that try to offer subscription services try to wow their readers with "lots of content" available through them. But this gets the equation backwards: if I pay for access to their site, I'm paying to have even more of my time spent digging through stuff on the internet. The internet is already packed with free stuff to dig through! What I'm short of is time. If an editor manages to take some portion of the internet and faithfully, carefully reduce it to something much smaller -- reduce some important firehoses to a 7-page weekly summary -- they're performing a time-saving service that is worth money. If they do it in a timely fashion, and the information is time-sensitive, then a simple time-locked subscription system is perfectly reasonable.
Ten-year timeline part 4: the end and the beginning Posted Jan 31, 2008 21:05 UTC (Thu) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link] What he said.
Ten-year timeline part 4: the end and the beginning Posted Feb 1, 2008 12:42 UTC (Fri) by N0NB (subscriber, #3407) [Link] Agreed! At this time I plan to continue to subscribe to LWN and drop Linux Journal when it comes up for renewal. Linux Journal no longer caters to the home/hobbyist user but I renewed when Nick Petreley took over as editor. Now that they've quietly parted ways, I think I shall too. That is not an easy decision as I've been an LJ subscriber since 1996. I'm not saying that LJ's content is poor, I just don't relate to it very often. For example, Reuven Lerner writes an excellent column, but it's wasted pages to me as I don't do enterprise type web development. LWN typically has a lot of useful information that even I can relate to. It's timely and informative. LWN doesn't waste its time trying to convince me to use some web development acronym of the week. Instead it focuses on Linux kernel development in particular and the Free Software community in general and those are of most importance to me. LWN gives me consistent news about the Free Software community and that's what I value most.
Horse's mouth Posted Feb 2, 2008 23:08 UTC (Sat) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link] Agreed again. It's also the only magazine I subscribe to, great value for the money.I actually do enterprise web development, and use some of those acronyms in my daily routine through enterprise-style chaos, so I don't relate to lots of LWN content. However, I value solid software engineering in kernel development as in any other field. Lots of ideas are usable in any kind of environment. Plus, my favorite point: LWN is the only place I know where the news meets the newsmakers. You can read our editors' take about something and then read a comment from the horse's mouth, be it an average Debian developer or Linus himself.
Ten-year timeline part 4: the end and the beginning Posted Feb 4, 2008 15:25 UTC (Mon) by filipjoelsson (subscriber, #2622) [Link] LWN is the only computer related mag (on- and offline) that I bother paying a subscription for. The reason is that all the rest of them have become product review or preview magazines, where even most of the articles try to sell me gizmos or software. Oh, they usually have "developer pages" too - of the learn php/python/gimp/something else in 5 installments, blatantly ripping off some online tutorial (and usually doing worse). And to top it off, they have some month old news. All in all, LWN is the only place writing about what's interesting in a timely fashion, cutting the crap and the disguised ads. Which makes it well worth my money. :) BTW Did you actually throw that party? I believe I explicitly tagged my donation as "for beer". Was it good? ;)
|
|||||||||||