From The Chief Editor's Desk...

It's hard to believe, but July is the 15th anniversary of me taking over the reins of The PCLinuxOS Magazine as its Chief Editor. That's 180 monthly issues, and 12 special editions of the magazine.

I can remember everything as if it were yesterday. My predecessor (who we'll leave unnamed) was knee-deep involved in a rift that rocked PCLinuxOS back at that time. Those who were around at that time will know the name of my predecessor. I'm also not going to rehash all of that drama that gripped PCLinuxOS at that time.

But, through it all, my predecessor basically held the magazine hostage, and tried to declare it “dead.” By that time, I had only written one or two articles for The PCLinuxOS Magazine. I and some other people said, “Whoa! Hold your horses!” to the idea that the magazine was “dead.”

My predecessor professed that there “just wasn't enough to write about for a monthly magazine,” and had decreased the magazine's publication schedule down to every other month. Even then, he wouldn't/couldn't meet his deadlines and his announced publication schedule.

My predecessor was “fired” from his position, and Archie began looking to assemble a new magazine team. Almost immediately, I threw my name into the hat to be the magazine's new editor. As a former professional newspaper photographer, I have a background in journalism. In fact, a lot of my studies in college centered around journalism. I graduated from college with a Liberal Arts degree instead of a degree in journalism, because I ran out of money. The Liberal Arts degree cut off one to two semesters of school, compared to a journalism degree. But by then, I had taken most of the journalism-specific courses I was needing for a journalism degree.

By the time the July 2009 issue came out, I had written three articles for that issue. At the end of the month, Archie named me as the magazine's new Chief Editor. The rest, as they say, is history.

I was told that the new editor position would only be for a year or two. Talk about not seeing how things would turn out! Here we are 15 years later, with me still holding the reins to the magazine.

Over those ensuing 15 years, we've NEVER missed a monthly issue. So much for there not being enough to write about, huh?! In that time, we've dissected and covered many of the desktop environments, covered multiple releases of LibreOffice, came up with and implemented many ongoing article series, and even published a dozen special editions of the magazine for our readers to use as reference material. We've done a few design changes over the years, as well.

And sure, some months have their “fair share” of reprint articles from other resources in the open source community. We always try to select those reprint articles based on how we feel they'll be perceived by the PCLinuxOS community, and how useful we think the PCLinuxOS community might find them. But, at the end of the day, we're still able to put out a monthly issue. Every. Single. Month. It's not all about being resourceful, either. It's also about having a vision and a plan to achieve that vision. Sure, resourcefulness helps. But it has to fit with our vision and plan.

Over that 15 years, a LOT has happened with me, personally. During that time, both of my kids were born, I've worked at three different hospitals before retiring at the end of 2022, I've purchased two new pickup trucks and my wife's new car, paid off the mortgage on my house, played nursemaid to a flock of backyard chickens, and many, many more things than I can think of at this moment.

So, I don't have any plans to step away from the magazine any time soon in the foreseeable future. Just in case you were wondering. Now, with me being retired (I wasn't when I took this endeavor on), I have more time than ever to work on the magazine.

Over the years, Meemaw has been a literal SAINT. I'm not sure I could have (or would have) persevered through these past 15 years without her by my side as my Assistant Editor. We have become a well oiled machine, and work well together. Thank you, Meemaw, for all you do!

Nope. I don't have ANY plans to go anywhere. I plan on sitting in this seat for as long as I can.

This month's cover pays homage to the annual Tour de France bicycle race. The image is by Amore Seymour from Pixabay. This year's Tour de France goes from June 29, 2024, through July 21, 2024, and incorporates 21 days of H-A-R-D riding through some of the toughest terrain, in the toughest bicycle race on the planet. You can find out more about this year's Tour de France here, and view a map of the entire route here.

Until next month, I bid you peace, happiness, serenity, prosperity … and continued good health.