[plug] starting a linux mag?

[Sham Chukoury]

Harry McNally wrote:

><snip>
>  
>
>Given that Linux is international and there are international mags out there, do you think this might be reinventing the circular transportation device ?
>
>Damage from blunt thought objects aside, what would differentiate an Australian Linux mag from say Linux Format and other UK and US publications ? If you can figure how to create difference then it may succeed. Its tricky tho' when the target audience are already on-line and therefore getting information instantly. 
>
>I'd compose a table of contents for six issues over the last six months and see if it can be sustained on Australian newsworthy content. If it can, then it may get up. Can I do any ? Nope, I'm already being told to ease the pedal off the metal a tad :)
>  
>
Hmmm... I reckon that Dr Tomato Lunchnotwar (nice nick ;) ) has an 
interesting idea. Yes, of course, creating more Linux mags would 
reinvent the circular transportation device, but that's not the point... 
Of course the Penguin population is wired, online and tuned in, and 
creating another mag would simply be re-publishing info being delivered 
thru some other means, but that's not the point... The point is, 
creating our own mag means we have our own say, not an American or 
British perspective on Linux (LinuxConf is here, it's not in New York or 
London). Creating a mag is also a better way to reach out to the masses 
of M$ addicted people even here in Perth. People who've never heard of 
Linux, or who've heard of it, but are still convinced that Bill Gates is 
the smartest man on earth, will not go online and join LUGs or discover 
the marvels of Open Source software. Microsoft never created MUGs 
(interesting abbreviation, by the way), simply because they chose 
*common* ways of marketting and communicating their product info 
directly to masses of people. That means ads on TV, ads in magazines and 
newspapers, as well as the behind-the-scenes-business-deals-with-PC-vendors.
I never got my hands on a Linux distro or even saw the login prompt of 
something looking even remotely like Linux until I got into uni this 
year. The bottom line is, there is a common lack of awareness about 
Linux out there. Business people might have heard of it, corporate 
bosses have sent out people to investigate and prod it, geeks live in 
it, but all of the other people who just want to have a PC in their home 
and be able to browse the famous dot-com (+dot-au) world only have 
images of quadri-coloured windows in their minds. They go to PC vendors 
and there are banners, posters, screen savers, shiny boxes of the 
windowy stuff. They buy a new PC from just about anywhere, and there's 
the windowy stuff on there. It's easy, coz u buy it, plug it in and wow, 
it looks nice and it sounds nice too. No geeky stuff to mess around 
with... Now, if u don't know how to use your PC for the good of 
humanity, u go off to a basic IT101 course somewhere and they teach u 
how to work those windows (yes, windows can do more than open and 
close!) to make marvellous things happen. AFAIK, no one introduces our 
friend the Penguin to those people in need of some PC knowledge. There 
are few PC vendors willing to go the way of the penguin, although that 
is starting to change now. The bottom line is... Linux does not have a 
marketting department, whereas M$ does have one that is (I reckon) about 
half the size of the corporation. Having our mag can help change that... 
There is Australian newsworthy stuff out there - people like us, the 
PLUG, to start with. We can put anything in there - tutorials (how to 
set up your first Linux box), articles, a feedback (letters to the 
editor) area, news from the bleeding edge of Open Source, code samples 
(OggRe - a simple script to rip and encode CD audio into Ogg files), ads 
from local Linux shops and Linux-friendly IT businesses, CDs with the 
latest must-have Linux packages... I mean, just imagine. Yes, maybe the 
person who doesn't want to mess with half geeky stuff will stay away 
from the mag, but there is a half interested audience out there that 
will buy it, read it and pass the word on. Communication, my friends, is 
the essence. You can't light a fire without sparks...

Yes, I know, I sound like a kid writing a letter to Santa, but hey... we 
don't have to start off with a bang. Even giant eucalypts start growing 
from tiny seedlings...

§:)
Just me... maybe starting to feel a bit of Dr Tomato's headache. Maybe 
it's a virus? Or maybe it was just too hot today...

-- 
----------------------------------------------
Curtin Advantage Technology Assistant Manager
Sham Chukoury
ICQ#: 116126820
Email: chukours at ses.curtin.edu.au
----------------------------------------------