Welcome to the Beginning of the New Linux.com

The relaunching of Linux.com has been, without a doubt, one of the most challenging professional tasks I have ever been a part of. And I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

The opportunity was stunning–to be part of a team that would take a marquee site that’s been a part of the Linux community and infrastructure for years and change it to something even better.

When the word got out amongst the community that the Linux Foundation was undertaking this task, there were a lot of questions on what we were going to do with the site. Consistently the answer we gave was “make the site for the community.” Now that you can see the results, I think you will agree we’ve achieved that goal and more.

To get started, click Login to use or Register to get your free Linux.com account. Prior Linux.com users, take note: your old account should work on our new Linux.com. You will land on your Profile page in the Community section. From here, you can start your participation.

• Click My Blog Dashboard to begin the process of creating your own blog
• Invite some friends to Linux.com
• Add an application to your Profile, like Twitter
• Create a group for your local LUG or developer group and invite friends to stay informed with local events

Socializing with other Linux users on Linux.com is very worthwhile, but it’s not the only opportunity to participate in the community. You can contribute your own content to Linux.com, too.

Here are the other ways you can contribute:

• Post a comment in our Forums
• Comment on a story in our News section
• Ask a question or give a solution in Answers
• Add a listing or a product review in our Directory
• Create your own article or tutorial

The News section contains in-depth analysis and reports for software, hardware, embedded, business, and enterprise topics. It also contains the Featured Blogs from Linux community luminaries and Linux Foundation leaders.

With all of those distros out there, it can be hard to keep up with the current advances, so we’ve created the Distribution News section so you can find out the latest happenings, releases, and events for your favorite Linux distributions, or all of them. Get insights and knowledge about Linux distributions directly from the source: the community leaders and developers who are building the next version of your preferred distros. In the Distribution Blogs section, we’ve got leaders from the Fedora, Ubuntu, openSUSE, and Debian communities to start, with more folks on the way. The Download Linux section will point you to the right distribution for your needs.

One of my favorite sections of the site is the Answers area, where you find answers to other user’s questions or post your own! It’s in the Learn section, where we’ve also got a Documentation section with all of the Linux man pages and Linux Documentation Project Howtos. Look for this section to really grow in the coming weeks! The same for the Tutorials section, where users can add their own helpful manuals on how to get things done in Linux. The Learn section also has whitepapers from the Linux Foundation and industry analysts, detailed reference articles, and a Careers/Training section that gives expert advice on how to stay current in your job with career advice and advanced training opportunities.

The Linux.com Directory is a user-contributed and -reviewed database of software applications that run on the Linux operating system; Linux-compatible hardware; and books, hosting, and other professional services in the Linux ecosystem. This is another area where user contributions will only make the site better: the directory’s listing are entered by users who share what they know about these items. What software is the best of its class? How do you get the drivers for that piece of hardware? These are all questions that the directory can answer. As time goes on, and the directory becomes more complete, it will be an invaluable resource for Linux users of all experience levels.

We’re asking for lots of participation for Linux.com, but that’s not to say it won’t be without rewards.

Here’s the really cool announcement: As you contribute to the site, you will gain Guru points, which will showcase your skill level to Linux.com visitors. The top 50 annual Linux gurus on Linux.com will be included in an annual report from the Linux Foundation. The top five contributors to Linux.com annually will receive invitations to the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit and have a seat at the annual Linux.com planning meeting as community representatives. The top Linux.com user will be recognized each year as the ‚ÄúUltimate Linux Guru‚Äù and be given a fully loaded ‚Äúdream‚Äù Linux notebook, personally autographed by Linux creator Linus Torvalds, as recognition of his or her guru status. The top five Linux gurus and ultimate Linux guru will be determined by Guru points total on Feb 15 every year.

The work put into the site thus far has involved nearly every person working for the Linux Foundation, and their efforts must be recognized here, as well as all of the IdeaForge users who contributed ideas and then gave direct feedback during our beta program. Thanks to all! This was a tremendous team effort and a lot of work done in a short space of time.

It’s a lot to start with, but believe me, we’ve got more planned. So now, go in and check it out for yourself, see what there is to see, and let us know what you think! For content and design suggestions, please continue to visit our IdeaForge site.

More later, thanks for being here at the beginning!