Linux periodicals (was: Two-week alert! Python for 2006 ...)

[Ben Scott]

On 1/16/06, Jefferson Kirkland <numberwhun at gmail.com> wrote:
> I stopped my subscriptions to LJ quite a while ago when they started
> their focus on things like clusters and other highend stuff, including
> reviews of high end systems that only businesses can afford.  They
> definately turned from the user base to the Enterprise base.

  I would theorize that reflects changes in Linux.  There was a time
where even the "simple" user tasks in Linux were rather more
difficult, and there was a great deal of change in the tools and
techniques available.  The Internet was also not as prevalent as it is
today.  That justifies a periodical publication.  The fact that, hey,
X actually works on Linux was *news* back then.

  These days, when most Linux distros include an installer that does
everything but click the mouse for you, there isn't as big a need for
a periodic publication on user topics.  It's an established field, so
to speak.  Such things don't lend themselves to periodicals, they lend
themselves to books, tutorials, and the like.  And for the casual user
who is looking for news on product releases and the like, the Internet
does a mostly better job, and is free.  That's a tough market to
compete in.

-- Ben "Not that this helps anybody" Scott