View source for Linux Gazette

{{short description|Linux computing webzine}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox website
| name                 = The Linux Gazette
| logo                 = Linux Gazette Logo.jpg
| logo_size            = 200px
| logo_alt             =
| logo_caption         = <!-- or: | logocaption =  -->
| screenshot           =
| collapsible          = <!-- set as "on", "y", etc., otherwise omit/leave blank -->
| collapsetext         = <!-- collapsible area's heading (default "Screenshot"); omit/leave blank if collapsible not set -->
| background           = <!-- for collapsetext heading; default grey (gainsboro) -->
| screenshot_size      =
| screenshot_alt       =
| caption              =
| url                  = {{Official URL}}
| commercial           = No, per {{Cite web|url=https://linuxgazette.net/copying.html |title=Copying License |access-date=Nov 29, 2023 }}
| type                 = Linux, Free and Open Source software
| registration         =
| language             = English, with several community translations
| num_users            =
| content_license      = <!-- or: | content_licence = -->
| programming_language =
| owner                = The Editors of the Linux Gazette
| creators             = The Answer Gang
| editors              = {{Plainlist|
* Mike Orr
* Ben Okopnik
}}
| launch_date          = {{Start date|1995|07}}
| revenue              =
| issn                 = 1934-371X
| oclc                 = <!-- OCLC number, useful where an ISSN has not been allocated (automatically linked to http://www.WorldCat.org) -->
| current_status       = Inactive since {{End date and age|2011|06}}
| footnotes            = 
}}
'''''The Linux Gazette''''' was a monthly self-published [[Linux]] [[Computer magazines|computing]] [[webzine]], published between July 1995 and June 2011. Its content was published under the [[Open Publication License]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://linuxgazette.net/faq/general.html#copying|title=General FAQ: General Linux Gazette Information|date=2004-07-04|website=linuxgazette.net|access-date=2019-12-09}}</ref>

==History==
It was started in July 1995 by John M. Fisk<ref>{{cite web |title=Linux Gazette |last=Fisk |first=John M.|date=July 1995 |url=https://www.tldp.org/LDP/LG/issue01to08/linux_gazette.html |publisher=[[Linux Documentation Project]]|access-date=2019-12-09}}</ref> as a free service.  He went on to pursue his studies and become a medical [[Physician|doctor]]. At Mr. Fisk's request, the publication was sponsored and managed by SSC ([[Specialized System Consultants]], who at that time were also publishers of [[Linux Journal]]).  The content was always provided by volunteers, including most of the editorial oversight.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://linuxgazette.net/issue96/moen.html|title=A Brief History of Linux Gazette|author=Rick Moen|issue=96|magazine=Linux Gazette|date=November 2003}}</ref>

After those years, the volunteer staff and the management of SSC had a schism (see [[Linux Gazette#Bifurcation|Bifurcation]] below). Both the volunteer-run magazine and the magazine run by SSC has been closed down.

One way Linux Gazette differed from other, similar, webzines (and magazines) was ''The Answer Gang''. In addition to providing a regular page devoted to questions and answers, questions to The Answer Gang were answered on a mailing list, and the subsequent conversations are edited and published as conversations.  This started with an arrangement between Marjorie Richardson and Jim Dennis (whom she dubbed "The Answer Guy").  She'd forward questions to him; he'd answer them to the original querent and copy her on the reply; then, she'd gather up all of those, and include them in the monthly help desk column.

With its motto, "Making Linux just a little more fun", the magazine always had a finger on the pulse of Linux's open, collaborating, and sharing culture.

The last issue (#186) was published in June 2011.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://linuxgazette.net/186/index.html|title=June 2011 (#186)|issn=1934-371X}}</ref>

==Bifurcation==
Fisk transferred the management of the Linux Gazette to SSC (under Phil Hughes) in 1996 in order to pursue medical studies, on the understanding that the publication would continue to be open, free, and non-commercial.

In October 2003, the Linux Gazette split into two competing groups. The staff of LinuxGazette.net, however, said that their decision to start their own version of Linux Gazette was due to several factors: SSC's assertion that Linux Gazette would no longer be edited or released in monthly issues, as well as the removal of material from older issues without notifying the authors.

SSC attempted to assert trademark claims over the publication. LinuxGazette.net contributing editor Rick Moen, however, addressed this claim in an article for LinuxGazette.net:<ref>{{cite magazine
| url=https://linuxgazette.net/issue97/moen.html
| title=Recent Events, and Trademark Actions by SSC, Inc.
| first=Rick
| last=Moen
| issue=97
| magazine=Linux Gazette
| date=December 2003}}</ref> 
<blockquote>The very same day it received our notice of the magazine's departure, SSC, Inc. suddenly filed a US $300 fee and trademark application #78319880 with the USA Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), requesting registration of the name "Linux Gazette" as a [[service mark]]. On that form, SSC certified that it had used the mark in commerce starting August 1, 1996. ...  SSC's recent legal claim to hegemony over the name "Linux Gazette" strikes us as outrageously unmerited, and cheeky.</blockquote>

Starting May 30, 2004, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Trademark Electronic Business Center's TDR (Text Document Retrieval) online record showed a USPTO "Office Action" on application #78319880, summarily refusing registration on grounds that the proposed mark "merely describes the subject matter and nature of the applicant's goods and/or services", and also because publishing a journal is not per se a "service" within the meaning of the term in trademark law (SSC having not provided descriptive evidence or arguments to counter that presumption).  The notice gave SSC six months to cure these deficiencies.  On Dec. 27, 2004, USPTO's follow-up Notice of Abandonment ruled that "The trademark application below was abandoned because a response to the Office Action mailed on 05-30-2004 was not received within the 6-month response period", adding that any request for reinstatement would have to be received within two additional months.  On Jan. 6, 2005, USPTO noted return of its Notice of Abandonment by the post office: "Not deliverable as addressed.  Unable to forward."

The magazine run by SSC was closed down, and for an undisclosed reason the volunteer-run magazine was also abandoned. In early 2006, SSC closed the Web site at LinuxGazette.com, and made it an HTTP redirect to the Linux Journal site.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website}}

{{Linux}}

[[Category:Monthly magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Online magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Defunct computer magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Linux magazines]]
[[Category:Linux websites]]
[[Category:Magazines established in 1995]]
[[Category:Magazines disestablished in 2011]]
[[Category:Online computer magazines]]