From the Publisher: Staff Changes and an Activism Request

I expect most of you will already know this from our web announcements, but just to make it official in print, Marjorie Richardson has left Linux Journal. Margie worked as Managing Editor and then Editor in Chief of LJ since 1997. Her efforts helped us grow, and she will be missed.

I have decided to take this opportunity to make some changes to hone our editorial staff. First, I have done a little re-organization. Rather than have all the responsibility for the content of LJ articles fall on one person, I have divided it among three people. While Doc Searls has been responsible for the upFRONT section content and business-related articles, we now make that official.

The other two positions are Technical Editor and Editor at Large. Our new technical editor takes over responsibility for the technical articles that appear in LJ. This is intended to assure that technical quality is upheld and consistent and that it addresses the interests of LJ readers.

The Editor at Large will be the frontman—okay, front-person--for the editorial team. This person will work with authors to get articles that fit our editorial direction and be the first-line editorial contact for vendors as well as readers.

To make this all go together, we need an inside person who understands how we put LJ together. That person is Darcy Whitman. Darcy has been with LJ for five years and in the editorial department for the last year. She has proven herself in her ability to organize, and most importantly, she loves vi. So, please welcome Darcy as our new Managing Editor.

On June 26, Don Marti joined us as Senior Technical Editor. Don Marti is best known for his influential role as Publicity Director of the Silicon Valley Linux Users Group, which currently boasts over 450 members, and also for his outstanding support of the Linux community. We are very excited to have Don Marti join our dynamic team. He's been a part of the Linux movement from the beginning, and has made a tremendous contribution to the community as a whole. I am confident in his talent and leadership ability to ensure Linux Journal continues to be at the forefront of the Linux revolution.

When we asked him about his new position at Linux Journal, he replied, “I've been a Linux Journal subscriber almost since the beginning, and it's always been one of my favorite sources for Linux news and technical information. I'm looking forward to helping put together future issues of a magazine that I really like to read.”

As I write this, we are still evaluating candidates for the Editor at Large position. It is important that we find the right person who has publishing experience and also groks the Linux community.

Until this person is in place, Laurie Tucker, long-time Special Projects person with LJ, and I will be filling in as needed. In addition, Heather Mead, who originally joined the company in a marketing position and then moved to Circulation Manager, is transitioning to an Associate Editor position. Heather's fine English skills will be a big plus for the editorial team.

The most-requested program in the Publishing category of our Software Wish List is FrameMaker, the document layout program from Adobe. Adobe listened, and there has been a beta release out for some time. Now beta 2 is out, and it seems pretty clean and stable. I gave it a test drive and am really impressed with its speed and ease of use. I was even surprised it would import troff documents.

Now it's your turn. If you have any interest in a program like FrameMaker, grab it from the Adobe site (http://www.adobe.com/products/tryadobe/), give it a try and let Adobe know what you think.

A second activism item is SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. This UC Berkeley project lets people with PCs help analyze data. The good news is that PCs include Linux. You can go to www.setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu for general information, or directly to our group from the setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/team_list.html page and enter “Linux Journal” in the search box. Come join us and increase the visibility of Linux and Linux Journal.

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