OSNews is a
computing
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, hardware and softw ...
online newspaper
An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the electronic publishing, online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical literature, periodical.
Goin ...
. It originally focused on
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...
s and their related technologies that launched in 1997, but is now aggregating consumer electronics news. The content is managed by a group of editors and the owner.
As of 2014, its managing editor is Thom Holwerda, who joined in 2005.
OSnews has been referenced by ''
TIME
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'',
Ars Technica
''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...
, ''
Wired
Wired may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976
* ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993
* ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017
* "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street''
* "Wired ...
'', ''
Computerworld
''Computerworld'' (abbreviated as CW) is a computer magazine published since 1967 aimed at information technology (IT) and Business computing, business technology professionals. Original a print magazine, ''Computerworld'' published its final pr ...
'',
LifeHacker
''Lifehacker'' is a weblog about life hacks and software that launched on 31 January 2005. The site was originally launched by Gawker Media and is owned by Ziff Davis. The blog posts cover a wide range of topics including Microsoft Windows, M ...
,
Linux.com,
OMG! Ubuntu! and
lwn.net. ''
Wired
Wired may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976
* ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993
* ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017
* "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street''
* "Wired ...
'' described OSnews as "an alternative operating system Web magazine",
and in 2011 Holwerda noted that "while the alternative operating systems scene might no longer be the prime focus of OSNews due to a lack of activity in that field, it's still where our heart lies."
Staff
*Thom Holwerda is managing editor.
*David Adams is a publisher and regular contributor.
*Eugenia Loli-Queru, the former editor-in-chief of OSNews, resigned in June 2005. Version 2 of OSNews was written by Eugenia in August 2001 when she resurrected the site after long periods of inactivity. She took on a more passive role in recent years as senior editor.
She started the original GnomeFiles.org (
GTK+
GTK (formerly GIMP ToolKit and GTK+) is a free software cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both free and proprietary s ...
software repository).
*Adam Scheinberg is the webmaster.
He wrote version 3 of the site in 2005, which added user registration, and version 4, a complete and total rewrite of the codebase. In late 2018, he led the conversion to
WordPress
WordPress (WP, or WordPress.org) is a web content management system. It was originally created as a tool to publish blogs but has evolved to support publishing other web content, including more traditional websites, electronic mailing list, ma ...
.
*Jon Jensen is the systems administrator, dealing with site availability and DNS.
Function
Besides its main site, OSNews previously detected hundreds of mobile browsers and handsets
and redirected them to a specially formatted cHTML version of the website at mobile.osnews.com. Eugenia Loli-Queru, the author of this script, open sourced it in 2008.
The editors contribute original articles and manage the submissions of news bits, articles, editorial comments and reviews that are submitted by readers. OSNews serves daily 275,000 page views on average (as of October 2005).
Like other technology news sites such as
Slashdot, it has a free user/
subscription
The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century. It ...
model, and allows viewers to add commentary to articles. In 2005, OSNews published version 3 of its website, which includes an all-new commenting engine. Instead of reporting comments to moderators, this system now relies on votes. Readers can vote comments up or down, and readers can set a score threshold, which can eliminate the down-voted comments from view.
In late 2007, version 4 was launched, which completely overhauled the backend of the website, and was followed by version 4.1
which added a brand new theme and look to the website.
On February 12, 2007, managing editor Thom Holwerda published the 1.0 version of the OSNews Style Guide.
This
style guide
A style guide is a set of standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents. A book-length style guide is often called a style manual or a manual of style. A short style guide, typically ranging from several to several dozen page ...
is licensed under a
Creative Commons
Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...
license
A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...
so that other websites and publications can use and adapt the guide to their liking. OSNews is one of the few sites of its kind with such a style guide.
In January 2008, Thom Holwerda launched ''Focus Shift'',
a webcomic based on the various news items OSNews carries. ''Focus Shift'' was updated tri-weekly, until it was discontinued in mid-2008.
References
External links
*{{Official website
Thom Holwerda (OSNews)David Adams (OSNews)Eugenia Loli-Queru (OSNews)Adam Scheinberg (OSNews)
Dutch news websites
Internet properties established in 1997
Creative Commons-licensed authors