Linux Voice – A new Linux magazine that gives back

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/linux-voice/

by m0a0t0 • 13 years ago

104 53 13 years ago

indiegogo.com

benev16• 13 years ago

One of the founders here if you've got any questions.

phaemon• 13 years ago

What happened with Linux Format? Are they changing/closing/something?

benev16• 13 years ago

It's not closing. We felt that the company (Future Publishing) was pushing us into a position where we couldn't make a quality magazine any more. We've launched this because we think it can not only be a quality mag, but also help support the free software community.

spindritf• 13 years ago

How are you going to be better than LWN or even HN? Obviously, apart from paper quality.

benev16• 13 years ago

Well our paper quality will be awesome :). We'll have a different focus than either of those sites. While we will have a news section, it won't dominate the mag (around 10% or so). The majority will be features (such as interviews and in depth reports on particular projects), and tutorials (with a mix for all abilities).

asb• 13 years ago

Will you be clarifying the content license before the campaign finishes? I'd love to see all tutorials with a CC-BY-SA license.

benev16• 13 years ago

So would we! There is a slight issue that in general, freelancers retain copyright over their own work, so we as a magazine can publish it, but we can't release it under a free licence. Where freelancers are happy with this (and we hope most of them will be), then we'll endeavour to do this.

abind• 13 years ago

Do you have any plans to bring out the digital edition in .mobi or .epub, for e-readers?

benev16• 13 years ago

We certainly hope to, although our initial work has been looking at PDF, and digital news stand editions.

chalst2• 13 years ago

How much advertising do you expect to run in each issue?

benev16• 13 years ago

Basically, as little as possible. We'd much rather run more editorial content. However, we can't ignore a potential revenue stream. We hope to make it viable at around five pages of ads. We'll also do everything we can to make them on relevant and interesting products.

jcook818• 13 years ago

Just wanted to say that I am a huge fan of your magazine and your podcast. Always entertaining, fresh and engaging, and I hope your newest venture keeps that same edge. I wish you guys the best of luck.

benev16• 13 years ago

Thanks.

davb• 13 years ago

Your presentation looks great. I do have a few questions:

1) Will the digital version be DRM-free? Even if you're not opposed to the concept of DRM, I'm sure you understand the logistical issues around consuming DRM crippled content on Linux.

2) You say you "aim to use an open source/Creative Commons licence." How firmly are you committed to this? I really like the ideal of content going free after 9 months.

3) What percentage of pages do you anticipate will include advertisements/sponsorship? It seems most magazines in our industry are cramming in as many adverts as possible, and worse - disguising them as real content (yes, I'm looking directly at you, Wired/Conde Naste). It's bad enough feeling like "the product" in the context of the unrelenting waves of ad-sponsored and metric-selling web-apps, it's a lot worse when you're paying for the privilege (via subscriptions to magazines with more ads than articles).

benev16• 13 years ago

DRM free -- absolutely where possible (i.e. we can't on google play, etc, but yes where we can i.e. digital subs from our own site). DRM is horrible and we want as little part in it as possible. For your other questions, I'm just answering them elsewhere in the thread.

wcchandler• 13 years ago

My only suggestion is to provide free subscriptions to Universities, especially if you can address them to Computer Science departments.

While I attended Uni, we signed up for a ton of free trials to various magazines -- Linux Format, Linux Journal, EE Times, InfoSecurity, etc. We got pretty lucky in that most of the free trials never ended. And if they did, we'd pool together money and buy a year's subscription. The department even bought a couple for us.

I can't stress how influential these magazines were to our participation. We were in an academic environment surrounded by geniuses in their field. We could read an article and nobody would understand it -- bring that topic up at the end of a lecture and talk about it for 20-30 minutes with the prof afterwards. Abstract concepts began to tie in with lecture materials. We were able to validate our courses of study and how it can relate to the real world. While this could've been just as likely by printing out articles or emailing the prof articles and asking his opinion, it was much easier because everyone (mostly) had thumbed through the communal magazines and had some rudimentary understanding of what's being talked about. We were able to actively participate in the discussion. That comfort in asking questions and talking in front of peers led to some great lectures -- many of which probably wouldn't have existed without the magazines.

benev16• 13 years ago

Thanks for the info. This is something we're keen to do.

sandGorgon• 13 years ago

How would you compare the theme of your magazine to something like Phoronix - which tends to be somewhere between Engadget and LWN in its "hardcore-ness". Possibly they are the Linux version of Anandtech (e.g. their efforts to bisect the linux power regression [1] as well as the Phoronix test suite [2] for benchmarks )

Are you addressing a more casual audience ?

[1] http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTA0MTM [2] http://www.phoronix-test-suite.com/

benev16• 13 years ago

Phoronix is first and foremost a hardware and benchmarking site. Probably the best Linux hardware and bechmarking site. We're not going to compete with them on that.

We're going to covering a wider area. We'll feature some stuff on programming (though this will never get too hardcore -- we're a Linux mag, not a programming mag), we'll feature desktop Linux as well. We'll feature Linux gadgets where they're relavent, but we're not going to be a big gadget review mag. Some stuff on servers. Some stuff on hardware hacking. Basically, if you can do it on Linux, it'll have a place in Linux Voice.

In terms of "hardcore-ness", we'll aim to strike a balance so there's something for everyone.

We'll be addressing a casual audience insofar as it'll be written with humour and will be easy to read.

andreaso• 13 years ago

A bit unhappy about Indiegogo, insisting on "Shipping Address Line Two can't be blank"; when my regular postal address really is fully covered by Name, Country, Address Line 1, City and ZIP Code.

Sure, I could probably fill in some kind of apartment number or so. Yet, it's not something I usually have on in my postal address, and it's definitely not something getting a line of its own.

Also, that seemingly broken requirement bugs me.

alexchamberlain3• 13 years ago

I have been a happy subscriber to The Previous Magazine for a while now; I'd like to see a little more for profession software engineers, but otherwise always on the ball.

benev16• 13 years ago

Thanks for the feedback.

sgt2• 13 years ago

I second that - some more highly technical articles would be great. Heck, even an analysis of an IOCCC entry or something crazy like that. I know it may not appeal to most buyers, but it will appeal to some, and I think the magazine should have a little something for everyone.

kwestro• 13 years ago

Print is dead. Most publications have migrated to digital only. Why waste money on physical magazines, when digital versions are inexpensive and very easy to distribute?

mikesaunders4• 13 years ago

Well, Linux Format GREW in sales last year, and could sell over 20,000 print magazines, so that's far from dead!

contingencies3• 13 years ago

What about the trees, the plastic packaging, the waste of fuel distributing them? Honestly, reduce scope, drop the physical issue and provide more of an MVP. Being English it's sometimes hard to tell, but actually 90,000GBP is a crap-ton of money to make a bunch of PDFs.

benev16• 13 years ago

We're offering digital subscriptions as well, so take which ever one you like :). However, Linux Format (or the Previous Magazine as it's called elsewhere on the thread) actually increased its print circulation last year. Print's still got some life in it yet.

sgt2• 13 years ago

I only buy digital subscriptions. Hold on, wait. That's not true, since whenever I'm at an airport I buy a magazine such as this. Please make sure that airports will carry Linux Voice!

AndrewGregory2• 13 years ago

American magazines typically have a much higher proportion of advertising to editorial, with a lower cover price. Linux Voice will have more editorial copy, paid for by the purchase price, not advertising. Ethically, I don't think you can justify charging good money, then loading the thing with ads; that's just taking the piss out of your readers. Of course, if Red Hat or someone wants to buy 16 pages of advertising, we'll take their money, but we'll print extra pages so that the number of editorial pages doesn't fall.

noir_lord• 13 years ago

This is the UK, people pay 50 quid a month for Sky and that is ~25% advertising per hour.

vertis2• 13 years ago

I don't mind a certain amount of advertising in Linux magazines because it lets me know that the company caters to the market in the first place (which isn't always apparent).

boothead• 13 years ago

Done! I would have given you guys more money if you had the corresponding digital subscriptions for the £50, £80 and £90 options. Best of luck!

LordIllidan• 13 years ago

I was an avid Linux Format reader for some time and had a print subscription for a heady couple of years. However, the content seemed to have dumbed down recently, and the ratio of advertising to content seems to have grown. Also, I'd go for more tutorials and less reviews, or if you're going to do reviews - more detailed reviews, I hated seeing one-paragraph reviews.

Best of luck, I look forward to seeing my pdfs :)

josinalvo2• 13 years ago

Does that "play" program, with the "anythingby" option, really exist ?

I supose it would be possible (indexing metadata). And it would be awesome!

benev16• 13 years ago

Well yes, but only insofar as it's a script created for the video that only plays that one song!

josinalvo2• 13 years ago

damn

vertis2• 13 years ago

I used to be an avid Linux Journal reader/subscriber, but I ended up with a bitter taste in my mouth because they sold my mailing address to a third party (without ever asking).

I've not picked up a copy of Linux Journal for the last couple of years.

I'm backing this in the hope it becomes something amazing, that I can use to replace Linux Journal.

mikesaunders4• 13 years ago

Thanks a lot! Rest assured, we're doing this differently. We've split off from a big company that could do stunts like that, and we're focused on our readers. The entire team will be doing one thing: making a great Linux mag.

vmilner• 13 years ago

"In this issue we're celebrating the crowdfunding revolution. We asked our contributors what project they'd like to see on Indiegogo or Kickstarter...

     - Linux Format Xmas 2013"

"A. Gregory: For consistency I'm going to say a Linux port of Elite Dangerous"

"M. Saunders: After writing my own x86 operating system, I'd like to fund a new version written in Forth"

"B. Everard: Having written a wooden scooter across Africa, I'd simply ask for an off-road map"

:-)

Linux Voice – A new Linux magazine that gives back

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