A Tux Magazine, revista voltada ao iniciante no mundo Linux e gratuita desde seu lançamento em 2004 está mudando seu modelo de negócios e a partir de meados de 2007 se torna paga, ou seja, somente assinantes poderão acessá-la.
Claro que é ruim para nós tupiniquins algo do gênero, mas em outro lado, não podemos esquecer que software livre não é sinônimo de software “de grátis”. Assim, um valor por qualquer que seja ajuda a manter as coisas no lugar.
O anúncio que recebi da revista pode ser lido a seguir:
Dear TUX Subscriber,
This week you’ll notice a change in TUX. It will move from being a free digital magazine to a paid one. Your current complimentary subscription will be extended for 12 issues (expiring after the July 2007 issue). That being said, this is just a note to let you know what’s happening — there’s nothing at all you need to do today. Your free subscription will continue to be delivered to you as you had originally requested.
When your subscription does expire, we will send you a notice offerring you an opportunity to renew at our paid rate of just $9.95/12 issues. In addition, since you’ve been a long-time (and apprecited!) loyal subscriber, we’ll make certain to offer you a very special gift if you do decide to renew at that time. Again though, there’s nothing for you to do today. Your free subscription to TUX will continue through July 2007.
We started TUX in 2004 because we felt strongly it was a needed publication within the Linux community (many of our Linux Journal readers would write in asking for exactly this, and truthfully, many of our own staff members wanted to learn more about their Linux desktops also). We invested revenues from our other publication, Linux Journal, to make it possible. We’ve seen it as a labor of love. Today, however, 15 issues later, we need to turn TUX into a self-supporting publication and that’s why we are asking for our readers’ help.
We promise to put more heart and effort into TUX with this conversion. In the coming months, you can expect several new topics and article series introduced by TUX Editor Kevin Shockey.
Please let us know how we can make TUX better for you. We strongly encourage your feedback and suggestions; please send to info@tuxmagazine.com
From all of us at TUX Magazine, we sincerely thank you.