A pandemic-era LWN update
([Front] May 27, 2020 20:03 UTC (Wed) (corbet))
- Reference: 0000821561
- News link: https://lwn.net/Articles/821561
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By Jonathan Corbet
May 27, 2020 We are living through interesting times that present challenges in a number of areas, including running a business. While we think of LWN primarily as a community resource, it is also a business that is not unaffected by the ongoing pandemic. It is, we figure, a good time for a status update, especially since we have some news to share.
Never has our 2002 decision to move to a subscription model looked like a better idea. Revenue from advertising has reached a level that is essentially indistinguishable from zero, with little sign that it will improve anytime soon. But we didn't depend on advertising because we work directly for our readers; as long as you all support us, we will be in good shape.
Subscriptions have definitely fallen off a bit in the last few months, and we've had subscribers dropping off with a note saying that they had lost their job and needed to cut expenses. But the drop-off has not yet reached a point where we are seriously concerned about it; for that, we can only say "thank you!" to all of you for continuing to support us as the world gets weirder. A special thank-you is due to all of you subscribing at the Project Leader or Supporter levels; it really does make a difference.
After much thought we concluded that we could continue to work to fill the empty staff position we have had for some time. To that end, we are pleased to announce that John Coggeshall is joining the LWN team. John introduces himself this way:
John has been an open-source hacker since 1996 and a core contributor to the PHP project. In his 20+ years in open-source technology he has worked with companies big and small in roles ranging from developer to CTO. As an author, John has published five books on PHP and web development along with hundreds of articles for various publications. Beyond his various contributions to the PHP language itself, John's open-source projects include the PayPal SDK for PHP and the Microsoft Information Card components bundled with Zend Framework. More recently John has taken an interest in IoT development, building open-source IoT libraries for the Arduino platform focusing on the ESP8266 MCU. John currently hails from the Detroit metro area.
LWN readers will have already been introduced to John by way of his article " [2]PHP showing its maturity in release 7.4 ", which ran in early May. You'll be hearing a lot more from him in the coming months.
Overall, it would appear that that pandemic has not done much to slow down the free-software community, so we are staying as busy as ever. Whether that will continue remains to be seen; there are a lot of unknowns out there at the moment, and it will take time to see how things will play out.
Back in 1997 when work began on what eventually became LWN, we were driven by a strong sense of optimism about the future of Linux and free software. That optimism has been tested by ups and downs over time, but it has largely been borne out; Linux has been more successful than any of us could have imagined, and LWN is still here at the center of it. And we are still optimistic; we have managed to pull together an outstanding community of readers that will continue to support us for as long as we keep doing good work.
That is exactly what we intend to do. We look forward to seeing you on the net and, someday, at in-person events again. Thanks again to all LWN readers, and may you all stay in the best of health.
[1] https://lwn.net/subscribe/
[2] https://lwn.net/Articles/818973/
Subscribers to LWN.net made this article — and everything that surrounds it — possible. If you appreciate our content, please [1]buy a subscription and make the next set of articles possible.
By Jonathan Corbet
May 27, 2020 We are living through interesting times that present challenges in a number of areas, including running a business. While we think of LWN primarily as a community resource, it is also a business that is not unaffected by the ongoing pandemic. It is, we figure, a good time for a status update, especially since we have some news to share.
Never has our 2002 decision to move to a subscription model looked like a better idea. Revenue from advertising has reached a level that is essentially indistinguishable from zero, with little sign that it will improve anytime soon. But we didn't depend on advertising because we work directly for our readers; as long as you all support us, we will be in good shape.
Subscriptions have definitely fallen off a bit in the last few months, and we've had subscribers dropping off with a note saying that they had lost their job and needed to cut expenses. But the drop-off has not yet reached a point where we are seriously concerned about it; for that, we can only say "thank you!" to all of you for continuing to support us as the world gets weirder. A special thank-you is due to all of you subscribing at the Project Leader or Supporter levels; it really does make a difference.
After much thought we concluded that we could continue to work to fill the empty staff position we have had for some time. To that end, we are pleased to announce that John Coggeshall is joining the LWN team. John introduces himself this way:
John has been an open-source hacker since 1996 and a core contributor to the PHP project. In his 20+ years in open-source technology he has worked with companies big and small in roles ranging from developer to CTO. As an author, John has published five books on PHP and web development along with hundreds of articles for various publications. Beyond his various contributions to the PHP language itself, John's open-source projects include the PayPal SDK for PHP and the Microsoft Information Card components bundled with Zend Framework. More recently John has taken an interest in IoT development, building open-source IoT libraries for the Arduino platform focusing on the ESP8266 MCU. John currently hails from the Detroit metro area.
LWN readers will have already been introduced to John by way of his article " [2]PHP showing its maturity in release 7.4 ", which ran in early May. You'll be hearing a lot more from him in the coming months.
Overall, it would appear that that pandemic has not done much to slow down the free-software community, so we are staying as busy as ever. Whether that will continue remains to be seen; there are a lot of unknowns out there at the moment, and it will take time to see how things will play out.
Back in 1997 when work began on what eventually became LWN, we were driven by a strong sense of optimism about the future of Linux and free software. That optimism has been tested by ups and downs over time, but it has largely been borne out; Linux has been more successful than any of us could have imagined, and LWN is still here at the center of it. And we are still optimistic; we have managed to pull together an outstanding community of readers that will continue to support us for as long as we keep doing good work.
That is exactly what we intend to do. We look forward to seeing you on the net and, someday, at in-person events again. Thanks again to all LWN readers, and may you all stay in the best of health.
[1] https://lwn.net/subscribe/
[2] https://lwn.net/Articles/818973/
A pandemic-era LWN update
Awesome to hear you're still going strong: The title got me a bit nervous. Cheers, and welcome John!
A pandemic-era LWN update
Awesome to hear you're still going strong: The title got me a bit nervous. Cheers, and welcome John!
A pandemic-era LWN update
Couldn't have said it better myself.
A pandemic-era LWN update
Couldn't have said it better myself.
A pandemic-era LWN update
Thank you, I’m excited to be a part of the team and looking forward to contributing more!
A pandemic-era LWN update
Super glad you're all doing ok!
A pandemic-era LWN update
Thanks for the update. I've enjoyed LWN for many years now and it looks like many years to come. Cheers!
A pandemic-era LWN update
Just today the company that supplied me with a credit card for about 25 years informed me that I have to prove to them I'm not into terrorism or tax fraud. Somehow the 25 years of payments processed by them - all utterly boring - is not enough for them to make that call.
Is there any way I can continue my subscription from a regular Dutch debit account? Because I'd rather not jump through this obnoxious hoop mto continue pay you.
A pandemic-era LWN update
... to continue to pay you.
(Please never post when agitated!)
A pandemic-era LWN update
... to continue to pay you.
(Please never post when agitated!)