Is NewsForge any good?

I am looking for a open software technology news sites or periodicals where most of the content is digestible by anyone, and they have to be of high quality. NewsForge does not seem to be.

NewsForge’s byline is The Online Newspaper for Linux and Open Source.

I looked at four most recent stories:

A GPL requirement could have a chilling effect on derivative distros
Tuesday June 27, 2006 (08:00 PM GMT)
By: Bruce Byfield

NewsForge | A GPL requirement could have a chilling effect on derivative distros

Questions I would want answered in the article are:

  • How does it affect me?
  • What has Warren Woodford done wrong? Who has he wronged? How are their hurt?
  • Does he have a history of wrong doing?
  • How does it affect other people?

Aside, GPL 3 is a draft, the context in the article is not good.

How to correct perspective and lens distortion in digital photos
Tuesday June 27, 2006 (05:00 PM GMT)
By: Nathan Willis

NewsForge | How to correct perspective and lens distortion in digital photos

Seems pretty specialized for the front page of a “newspaper”. Something that if interested I would seek out. In terms of the article, it is a tutorial and there are a lot a paragraphs there for what should be presented as instructional documented.

Ion, the efficient window manager
Tuesday June 27, 2006 (02:01 PM GMT)
By: Michael Stutz

NewsForge | Ion, the efficient window manager

Oh, that is an article on another site, and it sounds like it would only be interesting to the few people passionate about “window managers” — which has nothing to do with Microsoft Windows.

FOSS in Islamic countries
Monday June 26, 2006 (08:00 PM GMT)
By: Katim S. Touray

NewsForge | FOSS in Islamic countries

An excellent article. I will seek out Katim’s writing, but it is not focused journalism. The last seven paragraphs is the author advocating his own solutions.

The articles fail to stand on their own, but even if they did I my expectations for an online newspaper would not be met.

In terms of the community discussion, the majority of the comments are anonymous, and many leave me upset as they do not encourage a pleasant, rich and diverse discussion.

The last thing that will lead me not to visit NewsForge is the “free newsfeed” does not have full articles. It is only excerpts.

NewsForge, not The Online Newspaper for Linux and Open Source, or at least I hope there is another.

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3 thoughts on “Is NewsForge any good?

  1. First, ION is awesome! I used it heavily while doing tuxtype dev (eg, when I was in grad school)

    Secondly, newsforge does seem to suck. There was a time when it had a lot of great writing, but that time has passed.

    signed,
    anonymous

  2. Pingback: TechCrunch for the Open Source Desktop? at A Fool’s Wisdom

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