The new Linux.com is open for business

Summary: The Linux Foundation has opened the doors on its new Linux.com, a new news, discussion and blogging site which looks a little like ZDNet. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The Linux Foundation has opened the doors on its new Linux.com, a new news, discussion and blogging site which looks a little like ZDNet.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Personally I'm flattered.

My point is that the new site goes well beyond simple discussions of Linux. It's heavy into applications, even those which, like Firefox, are best known as Windows apps. It follows the news.

The Firefox story is actually a link from a Linux Magazine article by ZDNet's own Joe Brockmeier. It's a good article.

Zonker has been following the Linux.com story closely, quoting the Foundation's promises in March to make the new site a “community resource… for the community, by the community.”

Question. Which community?

The answer can be drawn either narrowly or broadly. Narrowly, it's about the Linux operating system and applications that run on Linux. Broadly, it's also about open source, the community ethos arising from it, the values of those communities, and the future of the Internet.

These are questions publishers, editors and writers are constantly fussing over. The editor's answer is it depends on what the readers want. The publisher's answer is it depends on what the advertiser wants, what the market the site seeks to serve wants.

It will be fun to see how the Linux Foundation, a non-profit consortium, answers that question over the next weeks, months and years. Y'all are a publisher now.

What do the readers think should be its answer?

Topics: Operating Systems, Linux, Open Source, Software

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24 comments
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  • looks a little like ZDNet???

    "The Linux Foundation has opened the doors on its new Linux.com, a new news, discussion and blogging site which looks a little like ZDNet.

    Not that there?s anything wrong with that. Personally I?m flattered."

    Well, if that's what you think. You can go out ant take credit for almost every site out there. They all look alike. It's nothing special with how ZDNet looks, or how Linux.com looks. I vent to Linux.com and I didn't see ZDNet. I just saw a design that looks like any other site 2009 would do.
    Viklund
    • Personally, I believe it actually looks [i]better[/i] then ZDNet

      as they look nothing alike, in my opinion.
      GuidingLight
      • Looks better, loads faster

        Not cluttered with ads and overblown graphics like ZDNet, much more user-friendly. I don't mind a few ads, but there are so many iframes here it makes browsing slow as molasses.
        Greenknight_z
  • Looks like zdnet

    in the same way that a corvette looks like a ford
    f150. They both have 4 wheels. linux.com seems less
    cluttered. I guess it goes with their utilitarian
    nature.
    sparkkkey
  • RE: The new Linux.com is open for business

    Just what I'd expect from a linux site, lots of clutter and very little information. Its only a matter of time before their site gets hacked.
    Loverock Davidson
    • You're a moron LD

      nt
      todbran@...
      • Now now that isn't nice

        You shouldn't call people names. You have nothing to say so don't post anymore, kthxbye.
        Loverock Davidson
        • calm down kids

          Loverock, you were unfairly maligned in a hit-
          and-run manner. Please don't take it personally,
          however. The critic knows you only as bits on a
          page, not for the wholesome and loving person
          you undoubtedly are.
          DanaBlankenhorn
          • But it's the truth nt

            nt
            none none
          • Now there is sarcasm!

            The CMIC posts his usual nonsense and you call him wholesome and lovable? Dana, where have you been hiding???
            linux for me
          • Lol - great reaction

            I liked the hit 'n run attack though.

            Dana, if you want to know a bit more about Loverock, check out blogs about Windows and Linux. You'll laugh hard at LD's postings. Not because they're funny, but because they're so indicative of a wannabe-(tho miserably failed) Mike Cox.
            nizuse
        • It may not be nice . . .

          but it is accurate.

          JLHenry
          • SNAP! (nt)

            .
            fairportfan
        • Not nice, agreed. However...

          ...appropriate, it is.
          fairportfan
      • Well I'll second that.

        nt
        nizuse
      • That is incredibly insulting ...

        ... to morons everywhere.
        Lunatic59
        • Bad Man

          ..ow Woman, as appropriate.
          fairportfan
      • That...

        ....has been established,

        Why repeat it again?

        Do not feed the cuisine-challenged bridge substructure symbionts. {http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/pib/2002/pib021218.gif}
        fairportfan
  • Open_Source is on!

    Open_Source is HOT and the skills that others thought were trivial are now regarded as GOLD to businesses to cut cost and get away from lock in with MS and other License driven software models.

    Linux distro skills are and will be the most sought after, the site is nice and companies are removing the blinders of we have use to MS because everyone else does.

    At least you don't have to worry about Conficker and other expensive issues like you do with Windows.

    Christian_<><
  • All old content gone

    They must be nuts, all those original articles with thousands of inbound links deleted.
    RLillySR