Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 15:13:22 -0700 From: mike allison <mallison@konnections.com> To: FreeBSD-Chat@FreeBSD.org Cc: FreeBSD-Hackers@FreeBSD.org, jtc@NetBSD.org Subject: Free Systems Journal -- Philosophy Message-ID: <33330802.3D353BFD@konnections.com>
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Hello again: While we're a bit busy with this conversation about newsletters and jounals, I just wanted to stand up and lay out my philosophy in regards to what Free Systems Journal should be. First of all it has to be an organ (sorry bevis) for the issues that the Free systems community faces. That is the ENTIRE community. Let no one think that this community belongs any more to the Linux users than it does to the FreeDOS or Minix users. We're all in this together. We don't need to agree but we can't deal anyone out. I said my original desire for this sprang from Linux Journal's continued open disregard of other systems. That is not a negative stance for LJ, on the contrary, it never claimed to be anything but. On the other hand, there has always been a need for coverage of other systems in a responsive manner, not as an aside to some greater issue. I assure you if LJ paid attention to other systems, they wouldn't do it justice. I myself wonder how it can be done, but we'll find a pole to revolve around and then expand or contract based on community needs. I don't think any one person, or group, is more qualified to contribute than another. A newbie might have just as pertinent a concern as anyone else, and just as elegant a solution. There are many more newbies out there than gurus. Unlike many of the people out there, a lot of us don't have a guru to defer to. (Except the newsgroups, and we don't always know who's answering the mail there.) I want this endeavor to become something useful to all of us, that we can all have a stake in and be proud of. If the NetBSD folks do something cool, or pull off a major installation, like say, to the Justice Department, we should all be proud and pull a little closer. Our similarities are our strength our differences merely distractions. Our goal should be to become smarter as individuals and to make computing a transparent part of our lives (both from a control sense, and a cost sense). I don't mind having to pay for good software, but I do mind not being able to chose and bad software eventually becoming the ONLY software. UNIX (Sorry to whomever owns the trademark this week) was always open in this sense. It was the great equalizer. It has again become that great equalizer. It has motivated people to create Free systems and that includes free versions of some of the most popular, most expensive and most controlled personal computing software. If you flood my office with contributions, I'll publish what I can. What's really good I'll pass on to others to publish. There's no way that we'll sit on a valuable article just to pump some imagined value out of it. I'm open to any suggestions about how to provide this service. I'm a book guy and magazines are new to us. But I'm become zealous about this and I'm determined to see it through. Your thoughts are appreciated. I'm not a real member of these lists, so please let me know what the right procedure is for joining. Thanks, -Mike Allison Publisher, Burning Eagle Books mallison@konnections.com
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