OpenSource.com Releases First Ever Open Source Yearbook

Community manager Rikki Endsley writes: The open source label was created back in 1998, not long after I got my start in tech publishing. Fast forward to late 2014, when I was thinking about how much open source technologies, communities, and business models have changed since 1998. I realized that there was no easy way (like a yearbook) to thumb through tech history to get a feel for open source. Sure, you can flip through the virtual pages of a Google search and read the "Best of" lists collected by a variety of technical publications and writers, much like you can thumb through newspapers from the 1980s to see how big we wore our shoulder pads, neon clothing, and hair back then. But neither research method is particularly efficient, nor do they provide snapshots that show diversity within communities and moments of time. The idea behind the Open Source Yearbook is to collaborate with open source communities to collect a diverse range of stories from the year. We let the writers pick the criteria, which means the yearbook isn't just full of the fastest, most popular, smartest, or best looking open source solutions. Instead, the yearbook offers a mix of open source solutions and projects, from a range of writers and communities, to offer a well-rounded (albeit incomplete) glimpse at what open source communities and projects looked like in 2015. The yearbook is now available for a free download.

Re:

[tlambert]

OK, what exactly is wrong with "Steve Jobs Wozniak"?

Re:

[GuB-42]

"Steve Jobs Wozniak" was a very successful combination, combining a brain and an asshole into a complete being that bear fruit.
Too bad the asshole took over completely.

Download?

[110010001000]

What is this, 1995? Downloading from a PDF? Shirley it is possible to just view it in HTML?

Re:Download?

[110010001000]

Oh wait I see the reason now: they are harvesting email addresses so they can send you spam. No thanks! But welcome to 2016.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

All of the articles are available in HTML format linked from the same page.

Re:

[110010001000]

Well now don't I feel like a horses ass?

Re:

[BarbaraHudson]

You shouldn't - whoever came up with this (apparently "Community manager" Rikki Endsley) is the real horses ass. And seriously, who gives a sh*t about an "Open Source Yearbook?" Come to think of it, who gives a crap about opensource.com?

Re:

[KGIII]

Bugger 'em. I have a spam email address. I now have the PDF.
http://www.filedropper.com/201... [filedropper.com]

Open source it is, then.

I too missed the option to get it by HTML but I wanted the PDF. In order to get the PDF, it took like ten new tabs and fourteen button clicks to download it and then giving them my email address and awaiting the arrival of the email - which included tracking in the address, to a limited use download link.

I'm thinking they have a different view of open source than I have. I mean yeah, I guess,

Re:

[BarbaraHudson]

Anyone who's been hanging around slashdot for a few years will find that it's just more of the same ... and you'll already know more than what's in the pdf. Looks like every non-serious linux mag for the last couple of decades.

I really miss serious magazines like the C User Journal. (kind of went sideways when it became the C/C++ User's Journal).

Re:

[KGIII]

Ha! I remember those. (I haven't cracked open the PDF yet.) I do remember those. I remember when eWeek was actually good and InformationWorld was still reputable. In the 1980s there were tons of magazines but, alas, it wasn't until the late 1980s that I even began to *like* using computers.

This is gonna be a bit long. You have been warned! At the end is your free million dollar idea. If you make it, I will buy 10. I will buy another 40 for gifts and spares. I suspect that even you will want one. Yes, even w

Re:

[BarbaraHudson]

You might want to look at this [amazon.com] and the cheaper version (which will only get cheaper as time goes on). The older 27" is still a grand, but that's a serious price drop from the original. Who knows - $500 in 3 years?

Re:

[BarbaraHudson]

It's easier to remove features than to add them.

Re:

[jfbilodeau]

Mod parent up!

'Open' source my ass. Anyone got a direct link to the PDF?

Re:

[mishehu]

If you got open sores, I feel for you, son. I got 99 problems, but herpes ain't one.

Re:

[jfbilodeau]

I'm sure your doctor can prescribe something for ya.

As for me, my open sore is call Windows. Thankfully, there's a cure for that.

Re:Download?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here you go: https://opensource.com/sites/default/files/2015_open_source_yearbook.pdf

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree, way to ruin whatever good work you did opensource.com. I was excited by the idea until I hit the forced "give us your email and we'll send you a link" - and realized that they blew it.

I don't know who to be more mad at, the person who made the choice to hide things behind an email wall or the people that allowed this to be linked to. :/

Re:

[110010001000]

+4 insightful...no troll.

Re:

[mspohr]

Shirley can view it in HTML. OTOH, you may not be able to figure it out.

Re:

[antdude]

"Don't call me Shirley." :P

TRS-80

[Anonymous Coward]

I was using open source software on my TRS-80 and on my Kaypro 4. CPM has a huge range of free and in beer and speech software

Do they have prom photos?

[drew_kime]

How about "Most Likely to Succeed"?

Math club?

How am I supposed to collect signatures on a PDF?

Re:

[KGIII]

> How am I supposed to collect signatures on a PDF?

That depends on how geeky you are. If you're only a little geeky, print it out. If you're geeky and a nerd, print it out and send the individual pages to the people involved to get signatures - or get them in person at conventions and LUG-type events. If you're really geeky, get them all signed with their public keys. If you're really geeky, nerdy, and don't mind a few criminal acts then get them signed with their private key.

After all, you're only a sta

Re:

[drew_kime]

That's perfect. "Can you sign my yearbook PDF with your public key?" I hope that becomes a thing.

Re:

[KGIII]

I hate to admit it but you're not alone in wanting that to become a thing. They say great minds think alike, I'm inclined to suggest that so don't not-so-great minds and crazy people. I'm not sure what it says about either of us that we want it to be a thing but it would be awesome. They could even open the PDF in a plain text editor and sign their particular section of the yearbook. Hell, they could even encrypt a message and sign it and include the message in its encrypted form. It could even be marked u

ah, opensource.com

[Anonymous Coward]

Take a look top right when you check out the side, and ponder that logo.

The place is basically a RH PR outlet.

Clickbait-y section titles

[Gibgezr]

The table of contents is hilarious, I'll just list the first few....they are all the same as these:
"6 creatives ways to use ownCloud"
"10 cool tools from the Docker community"
"6 useful LibreOffice extensions"
"5 handy Drupal modules"
"5 favorite open-source Django packages"

It's utter dreck, far worse than I anticipated.