Writing Linux / Open-Source News & Benchmarking 365 Days Per Year

[Michael]

If I started going through every instance where I've seen someone, somewhere, either talk trash about Phoronix (with or without merit) or sort of do an Internet version of an "eye-roll" when Phoronix is mentioned, it'd probably take me 365 days each year to do just that. However, those irrelevant lames don't really appreciate the scope of your service to this burg of the open-source world.

Linux, in and of itself, has/is/always will be a testbed for ideas that has evolved from the tightly-closed box that was UNIX. Having another testbed for its various implementations in order to gauge their performances (whether against each other or other popular operating systems) is a blessing. You provide just that.

Bro, you're awesome. I don't know if your operations are sustainable (both in general and for yourself) in their current state, but I hope the ball keeps moving forward for you.

Thanks for the kind words. Work hard to make ends meet financially but it does take a tough tole on my body.

[Apopas]

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Take a break, we will still be here bro.

[Kekos]

Hello Michael,

Thank you for your amazing work!

Haven't you ever burnt up because of this 365 days / year work ?

[radeon]

Michael's dedication and discipline is stunning.

We have to remember that this is basically the only Linux news web site dedicated to Linux and hardware/driver compatibility.

Just as a suggestion: maybe (and certainly) there are some professional journalists who also read Phoronix. How about offering Michael to write the news for only a few, pre-planned days a year, so Michael can at least take a break from writing news on Phoronix.com?

I think writing guest posts is also possible for non-journalists. Maybe there could be a yearly "topic-week" on Phoronix, where guests write detailed guest posts about interesting topics and those news are pre-scheduled for each day of the week?

For example, a week like "Inner workings of Linux", which explains parts of the Driver Architecture, Graphics, Audio and other subsystems of the kernel each day, consisting of a few detailed guest posts about each topic.


To all readers of my post: please take the small effort and permanently disable adblock/noscript/others for phoronix.com. Michael only uses non-intrusive ads anyway, so the joy of reading will stay the same.

[DragonDaddyBear]

This site is a daily visit for me. Keep up the good work. But if you don't take a day off with the wife then you probably won't have a wife much longer.

[Michael]

Hello Michael,

Thank you for your amazing work!

Haven't you ever burnt up because of this 365 days / year work ?

Yep, this year so far been particularly burned out.

[Sadhu]

It's not that I enjoy working 365 days per year, it's that it's tough as it is making ends meet off Phoronix.com with expenses so don't have the leisure of being able to take days off.

You should expand your business.

[Luke]

Given the current realities of Internet usage, I would advise Michael to try to automate as much of this as he can and avoid non-automated tests unless the premium readers (or the hardware vendors) are ponying up for them. In my own work, taking the time (once) to automate pulling, building and .debbing up all those MATE packages I work on would save a lot of time but I have not bothered with that yet. If I was on the kind of treadmill Michael is on this sort of thing would be mandatory, even if it meant going temporarily behind so some of the work could take care of itself and keep up on its own later.

I'll also repeat what I have said before: those hardware vendors are getting a hell of a lot of work for free. They ought to be not only sending free samples but paying for the tests. Bucks-up gamers buying $1,000 graphics subsystems benefit too by avoiding ugly surprises. If 20 rich gamers each send $50 to one person (Michael) for a $950 graphics card and an hour's work and the tests show the card to be shit on Linux, they save $900 apiece, or $18,000 total.

[eddielinux]

Thank you so much Michael.
If everyone gives their best as you doing, idly complainers will disappear from our community.

In Japan we have a proverb, "休みと仕事は同じく大切な事です。", which means "Resting time is equally important as work", then never forget to take a breath time to time, take some vacation and having good time with your family, as US people says "YOLO".

Best regards

[Michael]

Thanks for the kind words.