Welcome to another of Free Software Magazine’s fortnightly newsletters. Our newsletters aim to let you know what’s happening on our site and with the magazine. Through these newsletters we’ll keep you up-to-date with new content, competitions, new features and more. Please note: we have lots of exciting developments coming up in the near future, so take a little time to catch up with us. And as always enjoy!
General announcements
So, if you’ve been to the site in the last few days, you might have noticed that we have a new feature... polls! That’s right, you can now vote on all those free software related issues that are near and dear to your hearts. So get in there and show us what you think! Please remember that you must log in to be able to vote! In other news, we are having a bit of a celebration here at FSM this week - we’ve reached the dizzy heights of pagerank eight in Google’s pageranking system! This means that we’re stepping out with the heavyweight sites... and we owe it all to you. Thanks to all of our contributors, readers and supporters - it’s you guys that make us so popular!
Latest content
Getting bored with 3D desktops? I’m definitely not! - Mitch Meyran follows up his last two blog installments with more help and info. on 3D desktops.Read more...
Good can prevail when evil is... lazy... - Bridget Kulakauskas writes about how complacency won’t keep you on top. Read more...
Baby steps with the GIMP: Making a web banner using the gimp - Rosalyn Hunter navigates us through each step of making a web banner. A good starter tutorial for beginners. Read more...
5 ways to save on your monthly software rental bill in the year 2056 - Scott Carpenter gives us a sobering look into a future where proprietary software and IP laws rule the world. Read more...
Latest content continued...
Free software and my birthday beyond the thunderdome - Rosalyn Hunter reflects on how lucky she is to live in a non-post-apocalyptic world with free software - phew! Read more...
Why (most) medium sized free software projects are doomed (or, IBM said “no”) - Tony Mobily talks about how hard it is to make it as a medium sized free software project. Read more...
Editorial: On “making it” - Tony Mobily, EIC, would like to thank you all for helping to get the magazine where it is today from where it was two years ago. Read more...
Set up a free software IRC client in less than 5 minutes - Ever wondered how to set up ChatZilla? Robin Monks tells you how. Read more...
Reformation of a Visual Basic programmer II - Scott Carpenter talks about why it’s uncool to use VB - not cos it’s lame, but cos it’s not free. Read more...
Latest book reviews released
Foundations of Ajax by Ryan Asleson and Nathaniel T Schutta Terry Hancock looks into Ajax - the hot new thing in web design. Read more...
Beginning Ubuntu Linux: From Novice to Professional by Keir Thomas Bridget Kulakauskas goes from novice to professional with Ubuntu Linux. Read more...
Book competition announcement for this fortnight
This week we are giving away a copy ofJPro Perl Parsing by Christopher M. Frenz AND a copy of Ubuntu Linux for Non-Geeks by Rickford Grant.
All you need to do to enter is check out the latest book competition announcement on our blogs page.
GOOD LUCK!
Thanks go to Apress and No Starch Press for providing these fantastic prizes.
Winner of the book competition from last fortnight
Still to be announced.
Please post comments to let us know what you think and don’t forget to log in so that you’ll be in the running to win the latest book competition
This fortnight’s poll
Our very first poll asks a pertinent question - what do you think we should call free software? We might call it free software here at FSM but what do you think it should be called and why? There usual choices are there, and so far, “free software” is streaking ahead... so come on and vote, people! And don’t forget to comment on why you voted the way you did!
Please remember, if you want to VOTE you MUST LOG IN!
Reminders
Comments
Your comments on articles, issues, and blog entries are very welcome. They provide other readers with insightful suggestions, further information, and the feeling that they are not alone. They also provide our authors with the feeling that they are being heard. Please comment wherever possible and don’t forget to log in so that you’ll be in the running to win the latest book competition.
Avatars
Avatars are a great way of expressing your personal identity, whether it be a photo or an image that you feel represents the you you want to be. Read more about avatars here. To add an avatar: log in, go to “my account” in the menu on the left, go to the “edit” tab and scroll down to where it says “Upload picture”. Now, hit the browse button, find the image on your computer that you want to upload and go to the bottom of the page and hit the submit button. That’s it; you now have an avatar image.
Donate
As you might know already FSM is a low profit project with all funds raised going back into producing the fine magazine you can download for free.
Think about how much you would normally have to spend buying a magazine of this quality. We provide it for free! If you only gave us $5 per year it would really help us to keep going.
Your donations will help us to continue spreading the word about free software and producing more fantastic issues.
Contacting us
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Thanks
Thank you for subscribing to Free Software Magazine. You are a part of a growing community who help to raise the awareness of, and educate new users in, the joys of free software. Without you we would not have this community and without you we would not have a magazine. Happy reading!