[NTLUG:Discuss] What's happened to Linux Magazine?

[Mark Bickel]

> From discuss-admin at ntlug.org Thu Sep 13 20:56 CDT 2001
> From: Newsletters <jrnewsletters at jcrcomputing.com>
> Subject: [NTLUG:Discuss] What's happened to Linux Magazine?
> List-Archive: <http://www.ntlug.org/pipermail/discuss/>
> Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 20:49:00 -0500
> 
> What's happened to Linux Magazine?  The staff of Maximum Linux take them 
> over?
> 
> Linux Magazine started accepting Microsoft ads last month, and if you 
> read the Reader's letters published this month (pgs 4 - 6), the letters 
> are of their (ex-)readership cancelling their subscription.  Obviously, 
> that didn't deter Linux magazine as they are running more Microsoft ads 
> this month.  And, as a further insult, Linux Magazine has a little 
> article telling us on pg. 9 how MS may be shipping XP early...(Who 
> Cares??).  Looks like I will be cancelling my subscription to Linux 
> Magazine tommorrow.  Thank goodness The Linux Journal is staying 
> Microsoft free.

The publisher's editorial explained their dilemma. Ther weighed the pros and 
cons, and ultimately decided they would allow microsoft space in their mag.

My hunch is that they trusted their own editorial integrity enough to know
that taking microsoft's money for ad space would not change their commitment
to the advancement of Linux. They were also betting (perhaps foolishly) that
the majority of Linux Magazine's readership possessed enough intellectual and
emotional maturity to realize that M$ money was foolishly spent, wouldn't
have the desired effect of swaying any reader's from Linux to Windoze, and in
the final analysis was meaningless. They probably should have expected 
that a certain percentage of their readership would take this as some sort of
personal insult and boycott or cancell their subscription in protest.

I realize that some people may see their decision to run the ad as a betrayal
of "the cause", but I view that reaction as being more than a bit absurd.
The reality is that due to the current economic downturn, advertising revenue
in tech pubs is way down from what it has been. This unfortunate financial 
reality threatens the continued existance of many fine tech publications. 

Have you noticed how much thinner these magazines have become recently?
That's because there are less ads - meaning less revenue for the publishers.
Heck, the latest SysAdmin was about half as thick as it was in January!

So if microsoft's wasting their money on a two-page glossy spread in Linux
Magazine helps prevent Linux Mag from going out of business, I say hooray!
Linux Magazine continues to publish a lot of great articles and technical
information, and I haven't seen any reduction in their advocacy of Linux.

YOMV,
Mark.Bickel at ericsson.com