As you’ll notice from our website and RSS feed, Android articles are appearing on LinuxLinks. We’ve been contacted by some visitors expressing concern about this move. We’ve reproduced one visitor’s feedback at the end of this article.
We are very appreciative of all the positive comments we have received about the reviews and articles we publish. With regard to the inclusion of Android articles, we make the following observations.
LinuxLinks carried articles about Android software for many years. These articles were removed from the site when we transitioned over to a new content management system. This was because they were largely out-of-date. At the time, we wanted to focus our finite resources on producing more high quality Linux content. It was always our intention to restart our Android coverage, albeit with a defined focus.
Android is very relevant to the site’s remit given that it’s based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open source software.
For a balanced site, it makes sense to produce content that interests Linux users in general. For example, some of our readers are developers or budding developers. It’s for this reason that we curate articles about the best free books and free tutorials to help them master new languages. We also write our own tutorials. For example, we published introductions into data science using Python and R. We also review Java-based software.
Rest assured, LinuxLinks’ focus continues to be Linux software and hardware. The Android articles are additional content mainly produced by contributors. The remit of the Android articles is confined to the following areas:
- Recommended free Android apps with a narrow eligibility criteria.
- Reviews of Android apps that are not available to download for free which would appeal to Linux users.
We acknowledge that many Android articles are appearing on the site in the past few weeks. This is because we want to kickstart the series. Over time, we anticipate that only one or two Android articles will be published each week. We will not reduce the amount of Linux coverage on the site. Instead, it’s our intention to increase our high quality Linux content.
We trust this clarifies the position. If you’d like to help, please consider making a donation.
User feedback
First I want to say linuxlinks is a great site with very useful Linux info!
On the other hand, with all due respect, I also want to say this -move- to start talking about android apps is not fine to me…
There are already tons of “tech” sites out there doing it for ages and very some much more specialized and with in depth analysis than yours (no offence intended). Please think about it for a second: Are you going to start filling the RSS feed with a bunch of simplistic Android recommendations? (Whatsapp… is there anyone needing a recommendation to decide “to grab it”?)
Really, Please stop this and stick to your matter of expertise: Linux which is a vast world and the identity of this website.
Anyway, this is only my opinion. Thanks for your consideration and thank you again for this great website.
Anonymous
I had no feelings either way about the Android articles but now that I think about it… I wouldn’t mind seeing articles specific to pine and librem smartphones.
Maybe even such things like Plasma Mobile, UBports Ubuntu Touch and others that are more classically aligned with Linux.
It’s all ground floor stuff heading in the right direction and could use more coverage at this stage.
Andoid is a great example of what can happen when an open source system is usurped by corporate interests and locked down into something unreckonizable as Linux. IMHO it is something else entirely, and not worth writing about here. I will avoid any article about Android.
It’s all very well, but Alphabet, as an anti-trust mega-corpse, is the Devil’s second name. Everything Google needs to be eradicated. You shouldn’t be encouraging people to use Google products at all.
I would welcome articles on alternatives to Google’s paid-for-with-your-freedom products.
If people like Google’s products and services, we think it’s perfectly appropriate to cover them. But equally we recognise that some people would prefer to use alternatives. Linux has always been about personal choices and decisions after all.
We have written a few articles recommending open source software to Google’s apps including our articles on Google Analytics alternatives and Google Earth alternatives. But we agree that there’s definitely interest in writing more articles in this area. We will do this!
I’m rather new to linuxlinks (about half a year so far) but it has become one of just a little bunch of web sites I regularly visit and like.
And I would also vote for no Android here, please.
Unless you’ve contributed to linuxlinks in some way (such as a donation) you don’t actually have a vote.
Once you open up Pandora’s box you cant close it…Where will it stop? will you then start writing about windoze? mac OS? why stop there let start writing about Amigas…
Either way I will still use LL but just not as much
I seriously doubt LL care what you think given that I doubt you have contributed to the site in any way. Or have you?
I don’t think LL has said they will write about Windows, or MacOS, or Amiga or anything else like that. But Android articles on LL isn’t actually new. And most Linux sites include non-Linux specific stuff like Java software like LL does.
My message to LL is to ignore the moaners. The more popular a site becomes the more the moaners come out. Great free unbiased content and people still moan.
I really like reading LinuxLinks. Like a lot of Linux users, I also use Android on my phone, it’s far better than any of the alternatives. So I give a thumbs up to the Android articles even though I’m far more interested in finding new and original Linux software.
Hello Steve, this is the Anonymous guy who sent the opinion. Sorry for the delay. Thank you for reading my opinion, considering it and posting this observations.
I am confident linuxlinks will achieve all the goals pursued on this endeavor. Count on me. It’s been a pleasure to follow this website and it will be even more after experiencig this exhibit of how much our opinions are truly valued. And to the rest of the readers/followers of linuxlinks: it’s true, we are in the right place! You all, please keep health & safe. Regards
We’ve started a new series on free and open source alternatives to Google’s products and services. Email kicks off the series.