So when I say "we," who do I mean? The principals in the publication are Tod Landis, a long-time developer, and yours truly, journalist Larry Cafiero. More on the purpose and mission of the publication can be found in the FAQ and in the Mission Statement, and in the interest of time and space, it won't be repeated here. However, most of questions about who we are and what we're planning to do with OpenSource Reporter are on those pages.

We don't expect your grandmother to rush out and install Fedora on her Dell, but we do recognize that there are a wide range of computer users out there looking for alternatives. We also recognize -- and salute -- those developers and programmers who, as their primary goal, seek to make everyone's computer experience a more positive one.

Ideally, our purpose at OSR is to bring together these computer users -- from "newbies" to power users -- and the developers and programmers providing Free/Open Source Software.

Hopefully, that's why you're here, and it's for you that we publish OSR.

Whether you participate in the Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) movement for philosophical reasons or for practical reasons, the fact remains that this movement contributes to a better society. On a philosophical level, the cooperation between those groups developing software serve as a model for a society based on cooperation, not competition. On a practical, consumer-based level, FOSS creates an option for uses that sends a message to the multinational digital sweatshops that we won't use software designed with obsolescence as a key factor.

That's why it matters, and I hope you will join us, just as we are joining those of you who have blazed the trail before Tod and I started this publication, in making this movement a viable force in our global society.

Larry Cafiero
Editor/Publisher
Open Source Reporter