Welcome to Open Source Watch

When I was a kid, my dad was a TV repairman. Thanks to that, I grew up with an oscilloscope probe in one hand and a soldering iron in the other. You could say I was raised from the beginning to work on technology. Since then, I've worked as a network manager, developer, and system administrator. Along the way, I found that while I was good at working with technology, I was even better at explaining it to people. So, for the last 30-plus years--yes, I've been at this for a while--I've been a technology and business journalist.

Along the way, I've spent most of my time covering Linux and open-source software. I've been at this since Linus Torvalds was a graduate student, and open source--and free software, for that matter--was a thing. Why? Because I started in the Unix world, where much of the software was what we'd now call free software. And, as I learned more about both, I realized something very simple: They work.

Linux, in my opinion, as someone who's run every operating system from OS/360 to VAX/VMS to every Microsoft system that ever came out of Redmond, is the best operating system around. Period. End of statement.

As for open-source software, the market has spoken. With the exception of a handful of companies, everyone does serious development using the open-source method. It's as simple as that.

But, while I covered both like paint for decades, I've noticed an increasing coverage gap. While there are great Linux-specific news and analysis sites, such as LWN.net, and numerous Linux for beginners websites, there aren't that many covering the middle-ground between hard-core kernel news and entry-level material.

In addition, while there are sites that cover aspects of open source very well, such as Red Hat's eponymous Open Source, or related topics, such as TheNewStack for cloud-native computing and Silverlinings for cloud network architects, it seems to me that there's a need for more open-source news and analysis.

So, I've decided to try to fill in this need with Open Source Watch. I'll be covering what I consider to be important open-source and Linux news, along with giving my opinions on the day's hottest issues. In addition, I'll be sharing important stories from other writers.

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