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137 lines
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<title>Some History and Other Things LG #31</title>
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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<H1><font color="maroon">Some History and Other Things</font></H1>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">Marjorie Richardson</a></H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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I am often asked about the history of <I>Linux Journal</I> and <I>Linux
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Gazette</I> and
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how I think Linux has changed over the year. Here's the scoop.
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<P>
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Back in 1993, Phil Hughes saw the enormous potential for the Linux operating
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system and its creator Linus Torvalds. Being a firm believer in open
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software, he decided to start a magazine dedicated to Linux to encourage
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the growth of this fledgling operating system. That magazine is <I>Linux
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Journal</I>. Phil founded the magazine and acted as Editor for the first two
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issues.
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<P>
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The first issue was published in March 1994 and had 48 pages. It contained
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an interview with Linus and articles by many now familiar names:
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Michael Johnson, Mark Komarinski, Ian Murdock, Arnold Robbins, Matt Welsh
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and Robert Young. The first issue was primarily given away at trade shows
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and sent to mailing lists; the second had over 900 subscribers. The subscriber
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base and newsstand presence of the magazine has steadily increased to over
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60,000 since that time, and we are currently at 100 pages.
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The first two issues of <I>Linux Journal</I> were published by Robert Young.
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After the second issue, Robert decided to start up Red Hat Software, and
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Specialized Systems Consultants took over as publisher. Also with the third
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issue, Michael Johnson took on the role of Editor and continued in that role
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through the September 1996 issue. I became Editor on February 1, 1997 and
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began work on the May issue.
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I had begun work for SSC in April 1996 and the project I had the most fun
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with was <I>Linux Gazette</I>. John Fisk had decided he just didn't have the time
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to devote to the Gazette--what he had started as a learning experience had
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blossomed into a very popular webzine. He posted issues whenever he had
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time and in between got mail from people requesting he put it out on a more
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regular basis. At any rate, he approached Phil requesting that Linux
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Journal take over the Gazette. Phil said yes and gave the project to me in
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August. This turned out to be a shrewd move on his part as taking care of
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the Gazette gave me the necessary confidence to say yes when he asked me to
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be Editor of <I>Linux Journal</I> the following February. Although I tried for a
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while to outsource LG, it didn't work out and it is still in my hands. Good
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thing I love it, since I do most of the work on it on my own time--outside
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working hours.
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<P>
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<H3><I>Linux Gazette</I></H3>
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<P>
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<I>Linux Gazette</I> is the most popular page on our web site, helping to generate over
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150,000 hits a day. All the authors are volunteer, and I am constantly
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amazed at how much great content people are willing to spend their time
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generating and then give it away. We have mirror sites worldwide and three
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translation sites in Italy, France and Russia.
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<P>
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When I first began work at <I>Linux Journal</I> and people asked me where I
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worked, the usual response was "What's Linux?" Today, not only do people
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know what Linux is, they approach me to tell me how much they love it and
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the magazine--this mainly happens when I am wearing a Linux T-shirt.
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<P>
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<H3>A Bit About Linux</H3>
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<P>
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This year has been a banner year for Linux in terms of market expansion
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with two block-buster announcements. The first was Netscape's decision
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to make Mozilla open source. <I>Linux Journal</I> had a
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great interview with Marc Andreessen and Tom Paquin of Netscape in our
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August issue and the second part of the interview is exclusively in this
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issue of <I>LG</I>. With Netscape Navigator going Open Source, can
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Sun's Java be far behind? Second, Corel and Corel
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Computer announced they would be porting all their software to Linux and
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that the new NetWinder would be sold with Linux installed. This
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announcement came in May after our April issue which contained an interview
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with Corel Computer's Eid Eid. I'm sure there was a direct correlation
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between our interview and their decision. (smile)
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Actually, it seems like we get a press release each week from someone
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announcing their product will be supporting Linux. About two months ago,
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one of these
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was from Interbase telling us about the recent port of its popular database
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to Linux. Now, on July 22, Informix has announced that they now support
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Linux, and that it is available with both S.u.S.E. and Caldera. An
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announcement from Oracle that they will be porting to Linux was made July
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21.
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In my opinion, sooner or later, Sybase will be following suit. Cobalt's Qube
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microserver is yet another coup for Linux.
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<P>
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With companies like these supporting Linux, Linux will continue to expand
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across the globe and, perhaps, even reach Linus' stated goal of world
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domination.
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<P>
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While I was not able to attend the recent Linux Expo put on by Red Hat in
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North Carolina, I have heard glowing reports. The vi editor won again over
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Emacs in the "editor war". This year the war was a held as a paintball
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tournament with vi winning three out of four games.
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<P>
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Linus' talk was well attended as usual. In it, he announced a
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code freeze will be coming for the 2.2 kernel in the next month, with
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the release due in late July or early August. This is good news indeed.
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The addition of symmetrical multi-processing (SMP) has been a feature
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eagerly awaited by many.
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H5>Copyright © 1998, Marjorie Richardson <BR>
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Published in Issue 31 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, August 1998</H5></center>
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