Linux Journal has been reporting on Linux every month since version 1.0 in April 1994.
Over the 28-plus years that have passed since then, Linux has come to support approximately everything an operating system can, while Linux Journal has maintained its status as leading magazine covering Linux and all Linux does (or at least as much as we can fit into more pages than ever).
Here is where Linux currently stands among the world's operating systems (stats via the Linux Foundation):
Linux is also at the base of countless open source software stacks, which in turn support vast sums of productivity and economic benefit to countless verticals. Telecom, retail, automotive, energy, transportation, medicine, networking, entertainment and pharma are just a few of the big familiar ones.
Linux Journal's coverage has ranged just as widely; but we've also kept faith with the serious developers who made Linux a success in the first place and are still our core readership. For example, our Deep Dives are like a new e-book with each issue.
Our monthly issues are big. Where in print we were limited to under 100 pages per issue, now we tend to run between 160 and 170 pages. And while we used to charge for our deep archive (again, going back to 1994), we now provide access to all paying subscribers. The same subscribers also get a free topical ebook with each renewal. (Currently it's a SysAdmin 101 ebook by our own Kyle Rankin; but we change it from month to month.)
After we were acquired (by Private Internet Access) early this year, we completely overhauled the LinuxJournal.com website, taking it from Drupal 6 to 8 and redesigning it to maximize simplicity and responsiveness. Our constant aim with the website is to make all our editorial matter (which we won't demean by calling it mere "content") easy and enjoyable to read on all devices. This may be one reason our subscriber base has grown nearly 20% so far this year.
We are also out front as a privacy pioneer in online publishing, both by allowing no third party trackers on our pages and by being the first publisher to welcome readers who take the lead with their own terms of engagement and privacy policies. Banning third party tracking also helps make our website pages load instantly while not bothering readers with unwelcome ads.
In the same pioneering spirit, we break rank with other publishers by not spamming our readers or subscribers with lead-generation campaigns. Instead we depend on our good work and loyal subscribers to generate leads for us.
We have also implemented new approaches to privacy enhancement while also using third party services, such as Disqus for comments. While we've found Disqus has no equal in squelching comment spam, we don't load Disqus scripts until readers request them by choosing to load comments. Similarly, we don't load YouTube scripts until a user chooses to watch a YouTube video. These are small enhancements, but examples of how we work constantly to respect our readers’ privacy and choices in respect to accessing third party features such as those two.
Our biggest challenge is serving a range of interests that grows with the successes of Linux and open source, which also brings a growing range of readers and interests from around the world.
And we welcome everyone's help with that. Linux and open source both succeed through community and collaboration, and so do we. If you're not with us already, please join the crusade for great code that we've led from the start.