A New Year… A New Beginning

December 27, 2006 1 Comment

I usually keep this blog to Linux and Open Source related topics. While somewhat related to that meme, this is also a personal announcement. As many of you know, in addition to LQ and Open Source evangelism, I have a full time job. In a move that has been a while in the making, I recently gave my notice. A big step to be sure, but one I'm really excited about. I love a challenge, and think we have a real chance to change the world with this community. That's something worth giving your all for. So, what will I be doing? No, it's not LQ full time. Not exactly. I don't want LQ to become a job. It's a passion and I like it that way. Borrowing from the words of Doc Searls, I'll be making money because of LQ, not with LQ. What does that mean? First, I'll be doing more speaking, writing, etc. I get gigs like that in no small part due to LQ. Secondly, I've started an Open Source Consulting company. I've learned a ton working with LinuxQuestions.org, Linux and Open Source for the last ten or so years – now your company can directly benefit from that. I'll even be working on an hourly bases for my previous employer. In short, you shouldn't expect LQ to become more commercialized in any way. You should expect an increase in features and improvements though, as I'll have more time to dedicate to it. I don't know where the rabbit hole ends, but I do plan on enjoying the journey. Enjoy your new year. For me, it'll be a bit of a new beginning. If you have a similar chance, I'd encourage you to seize that opportunity.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, LinuxQuestions.org, Main Page, Open Source

Interviewed by Packt Publishing

December 17, 2006 2 Comments

Mayank Sharma has just posted an interview he did with me for Packt Publishing. From the interview:
When I first ran my Linux distribution almost a decade ago, there weren't many places I could turn to for help. Whatever mailing list you tuned into, everybody seemed to be concerned with improving the Linux kernel or some other gibberish task. If ever, my newbie queries always returned back with a single word — RTFM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM). That's until Jeremy Garcia fresh into his first full-time Linux job, decided to give something back to the community. His website, LinuxQuestions.org, soon became the one-stop source for all Linux-related user queries.
In all these years I am yet to come across a single Linux user that hasn't, at one point or the other, benefited from LinuxQuestions. For the statistically inclined, LinuxQuestions's two hundred thousand registered members had posted over 2 million posts as per stats available in December last year!
In this interview, the site's founder, Jeremy Garcia, discusses how LinuxQuestions.org has out grown its forum board-only image and spawned a hardware compatibility list, a wiki, a social bookmarking site, and a podcast.
Thanks for the kind words Mayank. It's always great to see when others think LQ is adding real value to the community. That's what it's all about.
–jeremy
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Filed under Linux, LinuxQuestions.org, Main Page, Open Source

An Upgrade Infrastructure at LQ

December 6, 2006 3 Comments

LQ has taken another small step in its continued growth and maturity. We now use a CDN, or Content Delivery Network. The most well known CDN company around is probably Akamai, but there are many others. If you're not sure what a CDN is, Wikipedia defines it as:
a system of computers networked together across the Internet that cooperate transparently to deliver content (especially large media content) to end users.
CDN nodes are deployed in multiple locations, often over multiple backbones. These nodes cooperate with each other to satisfy requests for content by end users, transparently moving content behind the scenes to optimize the delivery process.
Basically, all images are now served by the CDN which means they should be much closer to you from a network perspective, especially if you're not located in the USA (where our servers are). While in the over grand scheme of things this is a small step, I think it's an exciting one. There is a very real cost associated with doing this, but it's important to me that the LQ experience is all that it can be. So the real question is – can you tell a difference? I'd appreciate any feedback you may have on this, as it will help us decide if this is something worth doing for the long haul. For comparisons sake, we implemented this at about 1700LQST (some people also refer to this as EST) today. Thanks.
–jeremy
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Filed under Linux, LinuxQuestions.org, Main Page, Open Source

An LQ Stats Update – 2.5 Million Posts

November 13, 2006 4 Comments

2,500,000
That's how many posts we have at LQ now. Wow. Rounding out the stats for those interested, we are just shy of 500,000 threads and have well over 275,000 registered members. I'd like to thank each and every member for making LQ what it is. Without the members, we'd be nothing. The phenomenal mod team has also been a huge part of our success. I look forward to the first billion and remain dedicated to ensuring that LQ is a friendly and active atmosphere for discussing all things Open Source. As always, if you have feedback on the site don't hesitate to let me know.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, LinuxQuestions.org, Main Page, Open Source

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