Issue 98 of Linux User and Developer (March 2011) features my four page article on productivity applications for Linux. It’s basically a collection of tips and application recommendations. There are more details about the issue as a whole on the LU&D website. There should be a distro review from me in next month’s issue, and hopefully, you’ll see more from in the mag in the future. [Update: Actually, Russel has posted up the review, of Tiny Core Linux, in advance. Update #2: The mag, issue 99 has now been released.]

Recently, I did another guest post on my other main writing interest, gender politics. This article appears on A Voice For Men, the website of Paul Elam. The article is called OMG – Our Gender Is Being Oppressed By Language!, and it’s an attack on a technique that is commonly used in text books. It’s a good one for people interested in language, gender politics and/or men’s rights.

The article was written quite quickly by making use of some of my notes for the book that I’m writing. However, I still haven’t yet reached my goal of placing any paid writing work on the subject of men’s issues. If you’re in publishing and you hear of any publications that might need some men’s rights or feminist critical content, let me know.

Paul’s also the editor of Men’s News Daily which has taken some of my posts in the past. Paul even has a ground-breaking Men’s Movement call-in internet radio show. As some of you will know, I’m not a very active participant in the Men’s Movement at large, as I prefer to work on my ideas for my book in isolation, but I’ve listened into the show and it sounds amazing.

All my musical equipment is set up at the moment. From time to time, I seem to take a year or so away from it, and when I was very poorly, pre 2005, I found it particularly difficult to stay involved with music. At the moment, I’m just getting back into practice. When I’ve produced a few instrumental electronica tracks that I’m happy with (probably via YouTube and maybe Soundclick). Following that, the first thing I want to do is to revisit some older material, yet I don’t want to touch it while I’m still out of practice. The older material consists of guitar based acoustic prog rock that stretches back to 1999 and some other, mostly incomplete electro-pop material that was written in 2003-2005. Given the amount of work that I put into it, I really ought to try and make some sort of release out of it. I’m trying to fit in a bit of time for music each day.

The weather has begun to improve, so hopefully, I’ll be able to get back into shape for cycling. In addition, carbooty season is getting back into full swing.

My first post for the website of Linux Journal magazine is an op-ed about the initially rocky history of KDE4.

[update: It's been posted around a bit on Redit, LXer, Raiden and Linux Today amongst others.]

[update #2: I'm not going to blog about every post that I make on the site now as it would quickly fill up the site and push other stories off the bottom. There is now a sidebar about my LJ posts. I'm my third month of working for them, and so far, everything's going great.]

Expect to see about four posts from me each month for the site. It’s a bit of extra cash and a chance to work with a great team. I’m looking forward to having a platform to discuss Linux, and the magazine has a great community surrounding it. Check out the site if you’re not already familiar with the magazine. It reminds me of Micro Mart in a way because the content is fairly eclectic and the target group is more hobbyist and end-user orientated than the other Linux mags. This makes it a perfect fit for me, as I’m more of a desktop user than a corporate admin sort of guy.

I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into this new position. I might cobble together some sort of side bar keep people informed about my posts to the site.

This week’s Micro Mart (issue #1079) features my latest op-ed article that asks if the UK needs its own official Linux distribution. It’s another six pager and fairly off the wall, but hopefully it will get people thinking.

The core idea behind having a national Linux distribution is that it would form part of a simultaneous push towards open source software in education, government offices and businesses. In my opinion, open source initiatives are bound to struggle unless they are carried out on every level of education and industry at the same time, and “UK Linux” would be a way of doing this. I also take a look at other national Linux distributions such as the Russian and Chinese ones. Available for the rest of the week.

[update: there's a bit of chat about the article on the forum]

This week’s Micro Mart (Issue #1075, two pounds as usual) features my 6 page overview of Ubuntu Studio. Hats off to the layout guy as it’s another great looking article. Along with my assessment of the distribution itself and the included software, I get into some details about MIDI and Audio in general. Just in case you’ve not come across it before, Ubuntu Studio is a Linux distribution optimised for audio work. Can a simple free download, when burnt to a blank disk, turn your computer into a fully fledged home studio? Find out by reading the article.

The next article to appear in MM will feature one of Mike’s Brilliant Ideas!, much like the stuff that I got started with, back in the OS News days. It’s another six pager and full of radical and strange thoughts about a scheme that might just save the world.

Stay tuned for details.

Linux.com have published my current article. I hope the community find it an enjoyable read. I never know how people are going to take articles like this one. I said in my RISC OS article, “I hold the opinion that if you are truly a fan of something, you can accept criticism of it. You don’t have to be loyal to something that is genuinely good.” I wonder where platforms like Amiga and OS/2 would be now if a few more people had complained?

From the article:
These problems span the entire Ubuntu experience but they all have two things in common: they are all solvable and they are all serious enough to evoke the dreaded, “I tried Linux but it didn’t work”.

I’ve finished an article for Linux.com called “Moving my mother over to Linux“. This is the first article that I have had professionally edited, and it’s a weird experience, having someone alter my words. Not to worry, the editor, Lee Schlesinger, seems to know what he’s doing

It’s a bit brief at 1,700 words but better concise than flabby.