2001 Readers' Choice Awards

1. MySQL 2. PostgreSQL 3. Oracle

For a second year in a row, MySQL beat PostgreSQL by a 2:1 ratio. Combined, they received almost 80% of all votes. Write-in favorites were the Red Hat Database (powered by PostgreSQL) and GemStone/S.

1. tar 2. Amanda 3. Arkeia

tar is by far the favorite backup tool our readers use. Amanda and Arkeia came in second and third place, respectively, but only by a one-vote difference. BRU, dump and homemade backup tools are also still in widespread use.

1. Cooking with Linux 2. Kernel Korner 3. At the Forge

Fans of Marcel Gagné, author of the Cooking with Linux column, came out in full force this year and moved him to the top position. Second was the revolving-author Kernel Korner. The most popular write-in—no, we're not making this up—was “all of them”.

1. Coffee 2. Water 3. Tea

Who would have thought this would be one of the most debated categories on the ballot? We added Mountain Dew after last year's outcry, only to be chided for forgetting Dr. Pepper (Other Soft Drinks). Coffee keeps its power over all of us, and over 100 brave souls admit to consuming foo-foo frilly coffee drinks.

1. Quake III 2. xBill 3. Tux Racer

Some write-in comments claim games aren't for serious Linux users, but they sure do bring in the money and drive development. And we all need a little fun now and then, right? Quake III is the favorite again this year, and the classics Mahjongg and Shisen-sho dominate the write-ins.

1. Netscape 2. Mozilla 3. Konqueror

Netscape captured 30% of the votes this year; Mozilla (bugs and all) trailed by just over 300 votes. Internet Explorer was the favorite write-in, but a sentiment shared by many is that they “all suck, just differently”.

1. Slashdot 2. Freshmeat 3. LinuxToday

From company web sites promoting Linux products and service, to international sites and community help sites, the list of write-in favorites goes on and on. Of course, Slashdot is still the first stop for the majority of voters, almost 30%. The most popular write-in is www.linuxnews.pl, a Polish Linux site.

1. Netscape 2. KMail 3. pine

Although there are winners in this category, none claim dominance. Barely 70 votes separated Netscape, in first place, from third-place mutt. One-time favorite, elm, has fallen to the bottom on the list.

1. Xchat 2. Jabber 3. BitchX

For those that participate in IM, Xchat is the favorite over Jabber by 4%. The most popular write-ins are Licq and GnomeICU. And quite a few you express disdain for all forms of IM or IRC. Even more of you resort to AOL, Yahoo or MS's versions 'cause “that's what all my friends use”.

1. Gnutella 2. Freenet 3. OpenNAP

Remember last year when debate over this whole topic was being played out in every coffee shop and courthouse across the US? Well Metallica avoided the poorhouse, and Gnutella and Freenet remain the preferred methods of file sharing. Among the write-ins, audiogalaxy and MORPHEUS are mentioned most.

1. Linux in a Nutshell by Ellen Siever 2. Running Linux by Matt Welsh, et. al. 3. Linux System Administration by Vicki Stanfield, et. al.

Perennial favorites, Linux in a Nutshell and Running Linux, once again find themselves in the top two spots, but in a reversal from last year, Linux in a Nutshell is this year's first choice. Man pages and other on-line documentation are the write-in favorites, and it looks like just about every other Linux book printed received at least one vote.