Readers' Choice Awards 2010

Linux in a Nutshell

Honorable Mention: Running Linux

Given the hundreds of books on Linux-related topics, it was a Herculean task for any single book to win the category Best Linux Book. Nevertheless, we asked you to write in your favorite title, and the classic work Linux in a Nutshell (E. Siever, et al., O'Reilly) was your top pick, acquiring more than double its nearest competitor, Running Linux (Dalheimer and Welsh, O'Reilly). We're wondering though, why more of you didn't write in Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary (Torvalds and Diamond, Harper) or The Cathedral and the Bazaar (Raymond, snowballpublishing.com). Who needs another copy of the syllabus for official Linux geeks?

Hack and / by Kyle Rankin

Honorable Mention: Paranoid Penguin by Mick Bauer

Choosing the winner for Best Linux Journal Column is just as Herculean as with Best Linux Book, except the problem is not the abundance of quantity but rather extreme quality of each offering. Kyle Rankin's Hack and / column has become the page that more of you flip to first than any other. (Incidentally, Kyle's column has been trending upward for some time—he tied for winner last year.)

NVIDIA

Honorable Mention: ATI

Before wrapping up, let's get back to some of your favorite gear. This year, we introduced the new category Best Brand of Video Chipset, which was won handily by NVIDIA. Although we as a community are frustrated with NVIDIA's proprietary drivers, we can rejoice in the performance and Linux support, which is better than most.

Nokia N900

Honorable Mention: HTC Nexus One

No Linux Journal award show would be complete without a Nokia N-series device, and the 2010 Readers' Choice Awards is no exception. The Nokia N900 takes the award for Best Linux Smartphone. We're not too surprised that you chose the N900 given that it's the most early-adopter phone out there. That's us. The honorable mention in this category is an Android: HTC Nexus One.

Amazon Kindle

Honorable Mention: TomTom Navigation System

The device that made reading an e-book a viable option is the Linux-based Amazon Kindle, your winner for this year's Best Linux-Based Gadget.

MeeGo

Honorable Mention: OwnCloud

For the category Best New Open-Source Project released in 2009 or 2010, we asked you to write in your favorites without any prompting from us. Although the responses were numerous, the winner is MeeGo! A little bit of Moblin in your Maemo, or Maemo in your Moblin, this merger of two mobile operating systems is quite exciting. It's fairly new, but will this open-source powerhouse become the next big thing? Your votes seem to imply it, we'll have to wait and see.

Fluendo DVD Player

The race for Best New Commercial Application was neither as crowded nor closely fought as the one for Best New Open-Source Project. The hands-down winner was Fluendo DVD Player. Although we Linux geeks hate to pay, the product makes playing any DVD possible, fully functional (and legal).

Android

Honorable Mention: KDE

We close with the category that requires a drumroll (drumroll, please): the 2010 Linux Journal Readers' Choice Product of the Year. And, the winner is Android! The open-source operating system from Google has proven to be a formidable opponent in the mobile-phone world. Because it's getting Linux into the hands of people who don't even realize they're using Linux, we can see why it's your choice for Product of the Year. We look forward to Android's 3.0 release, which Google claims will support tablet computers as well. Perhaps when version 4.0 rolls around, we'll have androids running Android!