The publishing situation is so bleak, and the saddest part is that the higher the quality, the deeper the problems.<p>Does anyone know how lwn [0] is doing? It's one of the latest very high profile publications remaining as of now.<p>[0] <a href="https://lwn.net/" rel="nofollow">https://lwn.net/</a>
LJ generously offered me two options as a subscriber with issues owed:
1. "In true community spirit, Linux Pro Magazine has offered our subscribers six free issues of their magazine, a publication we at Linux Journal have always admired. In our time of need, they were the first ones there for us, and we are thankful for their gracious offer."
2. "We also just finished up our 2017 archive today, which includes every issue we’ve ever published, including the first and last ones. Normally we sell that for $25, but obviously you will get it for no cost."
PSA: I found an archive link amongst the comments (<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/linux-journal-ceases-publication#comment-3642365235" rel="nofollow">http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/linux-journal-ceases-pub...</a>)<p>It's being sold for $11.99.<p>Here's the purchase link: <a href="http://lj.mybigcommerce.com/linux-journal-archive-1994-2017/" rel="nofollow">http://lj.mybigcommerce.com/linux-journal-archive-1994-2017/</a><p>Apparently it's HTML-format. No mention is made of whether it includes images or how big the download is. My suspicion is that it's pure-text, which is really sad.<p>If anyone wants to look into scraping the site, I wouldn't mind jumping on board. (Suffice to say that... not everything submitted into the Web Archive is let back out.)
While I think this is sad, it’s been clear where the wind is blowing for quite some time.<p>Lots of equivalent publications (PC format, Amiga format, etc) called it quits long ago. Surely it must be more than a decade ago?<p>Amazing how a magazine for a “free” culture somehow managed to postpone the inevitable(?) closure for so long really.
Publishers have it hard but tech publishers especially so - considering all of the free sources of information on the Internet. Between online documentation, blogs, forums, and tutorials, one can generally find the information they are looking for if they seek it hard enough.<p>All that said, there is something to be said for a well written article or book by someone with a command of language and a love for teaching.
Did they ask for contributions before going bankrupt but not get much, or did they never ask?<p>I feel these tech magazines should be more open and transparent about their finances and horizons, so that people who feel like contributing can start doing so at the right time.
Linux foundation could support them, they have big corporations and big money behind them. Big corporations also need good employees from this magazine's readership, so it wouldn't be wasted money even economically.
long time subscribers here(10+ years), also subscriber to lwn.net for many years, both are great. this is a sad story. I loved LJ's kernel korner and its four-embedded-linux series a few years back. Linux is getting more and more widely used, while google gives you many info and it is still meaningful for a magazine such as LJ to exist.<p>i remember at one time lwn.net was asking for life support, since then it seems to be doing well, maybe LJ can do the same? I tend to think LJ needs rethink about its content, that could be voted by its potential subscribers as well.