In the summer of 2022, The Lunduke Journal signed an open letter -- penned by The Free Software Foundation Europe -- entitled "The universal right to install any software on any device".

That letter was hand delivered to the Chair of the Digital Affairs Committee at the German Bundestag on November 14th, 2023.  

That open letter contained four key requests of legislators in the European Union:

1. Users have the right to freely choose operating systems and software running on their devices

2. Users have the right to freely choose between service providers to connect their devices with

3. Devices are interoperable and compatible with open standards

4. Source code of drivers, tools, and interfaces are published under a free license

That first request being of particular interest to The Lunduke Journal -- the ability to install whatever software you wish (including any operating system) is critical to the future of computing.

The Lunduke Journal was joined by a number of organizations and companies who also signed the letter, including: GNOME, /e/ Foundation, Fairphone, KDE, Purism, The Software Freedom Conservancy, and many others.

Upon receiving the letter, the Chair of the Digital Affairs Committee, Tabea Rößner, stated the following:

“So many devices end up on the scrapyard after just two or three years. But the devices are still in good condition and could be made to last with new software. We could bring them back to life, especially with Free Software. It would be a real sustainability effect if we had the right to install any software on any device. That's why this initiative is absolutely worth supporting.”

What impact this will have remains to be seen.

For the moment, all we can say for certain is that Tabea Rößner stated that she would hand over the letter to Germany's Federal Minister for "the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection".

Which, at least, is something.  It's not a lot, mind you.  Little more than someone taking a piece of paper and saying "I'll make sure this gets all the attention it deserves."  But, just the same, it never hurts to try.

I am going to present something -- with very little commentary -- and leave deciphering the meaning as an exercise for the reader.

Today, The Linux Foundation posted the following promotional material for their upcoming "Open Source Summit" conference -- which takes place in Tokyo next month.

What companies did The Linux Foundation choose to highlight as those "driving Open Source"?

• Toyota
• Boeing
• Goldman Sachs

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go update my laptop running "Goldman Sachs Linux" to use the latest version of the "Boeing Desktop Environment".

Tech News sites overflowing with ads!  Political rants in place of computer articles!  Tech Journalists writing puff pieces about Big Tech!

The state of Technology Journalism is... not great.  To put it mildly.

The Lunduke Journal (Lunduke.Locals.com) is taking a stand -- four key guiding principles that set this publication apart from almost every other Tech News site in existence.

1. No Advertisements
2. No Big Tech Influence
3. No Mixing Politics With Tech
4. No A.I.

Those may seem like simple rules... but they make all the difference in the world.

No Advertisements

We all know that advertising on Tech Publications is absolutely out of control.  Pages filled with more ads than actual content.

Here's just a few examples of how The Lunduke Journal compares to a selection of other Tech news outlets.  You choose which you would rather read.

ZDNet, on the left, is almost entirely advertisements.  The Lunduke Journal, on the right, is 100% just the article (with the exception for the small "Back" button up top).  Clean.  Easy to read.

Both OMG Ubuntu and The Lunduke Journal regularly cover Linux-related news stories.  One is so filled with ads, sometimes it's almost impossible to find the actual article (seriously... find the article in that screenshot on the left... I dare ya).

Once again, The Lunduke Journal... no ads.  Just article.  A title, followed by a tasteful header image for the article... then the article itself.  That's it.  Nothing more.

Both Phoronix and The Lunduke Journal cover Open Source and Linux-powered hardware.

Phoronix has three advertisements in view (more if you scroll)... including an auto-played video that covers up the text.  Sure.  You can close the video... if you're lucky.  That sucker doesn't like to close unless you hit that little, tiny "X" just right.

Once again, The Lunduke Journal has nothing but the article.

Be honest.  Look at those screenshots.  Which would you rather read?

We could go on and on here.  Darn near every major Tech Publication on planet Earth is filled to the brim with ads.

Except for The Lunduke Journal.

No Big Tech Influence

Part of having no ads is to make The Lunduke Journal easier on the eyes.  Sure.  That's a bonus.  It is definitely one of the easist to read of the major Tech publications.

But that's simply a side effect -- an added bonus -- of one of the biggest advantages The Lunduke Journal has over nearly every major Tech Publication on Earth:

The Lunduke Journal doesn't take any money from any Tech company.

Not a dime.

Sure, some Big Tech firms have offered to do sponsorships and advertising... but The Lunduke Journal has a firm policy about this.  No money from Tech companies.  No income from advertising.  Ever.  Period.  No exceptions.  No excuses.

Why?  By being free of all advertising and Big Tech money... The Lunduke Journal is able to tell the truth.  Always.

It is entirely because The Lunduke Journal is 100% funded by its readers, that we are free to cover any topic and any organization.  Including some that most outlets are afraid of.

Just a few examples:

• Firefox Money - Investigating the bizarre finances of Mozilla
• The Wiki Piggy Bank - Wikimedia grows rich as Wikipedia donations are used for political causes
• Linux Foundation decreased Linux spending to 3.2% in 2022

Sure.  We can take on Microsoft, Google, and Apple.  But The Lunduke Journal is also not afraid to take on Mozilla, Wikimedia, and any others.  We follow the truth.  No matter where it leads.

Hard facts.  Extensive research.  And nobody can ever -- not ever -- accuse The Lunduke Journal of being in the pocket of any company or organization.

No Mixing Politics With Tech

Every now and then a story comes up where the worlds of Tech and Politics collide.  It happens.  There are times when a Tech Organization does something political... and it becomes relevant to report on it.  Read those three articles above, and you'll find some examples.

But, as a rule, The Lunduke Journal of Technology (Lunduke.Locals.com) avoids politics.

And the results of this rule are striking.  Here's a quick comparison of how a few other outlets compare.

Do a search on Gizmodo.com (aka "The Gadget Blog") and you'll find, literally, thousands of articles about "President Trump" -- with many being purely political, with no technical or computer related content whatsoever.

As a general rule, I tend to like the reporting at The Register.  But, after you scroll past the gigantic banner advertisements, and do a search for political topics (again, such as "Trump")... you'll find thousands of results.

Same with ZDNet (2,438 results for "Trump").  All of these sites, and many others, regularly fill their pages with political content.  Sometimes relevant to Tech... sometimes not.

So.  Moment of truth.  How does The Lunduke Journal fare in this test?

Yeah.  You're eyes aren't deceiving you.  "0 articles found" when searching for "Trump".

In fact, you'll find similar results when searching for just about any political phrase (political parties, etc.).  

Because The Lunduke Journal keeps the politics and the Tech separate -- only mentioning politically related topics when it is 100% necessary for a story that is, otherwise, specifically about computers and technology.

And, even then, those mentions are done as little as possible.

Which means, no matter what your political leanings... you can read the articles on The Lunduke Journal without slowly going insane.  Here, you can get a break from the politics.  Just Tech.  All the time.

No A.I.

Which brings us to our final reason why The Lunduke Journal is important... no Artificial Intelligence is used in the creation of... anything.  Ever.

Every image.  Every word.  Every idea.  It all comes from a human mind.

No ChatBots.  No AI image generators.  The Lunduke Journal is human-made, artisinal Tech Journalism.

Many publications (including at least one mentioned earlier in this article) are rapidly moving towards AI-generated Tech content -- they feed press releases into a ChatBot and it spits out an almost completed article for them.  Then they use an AI system to create a header image for the article.

Not The Lunduke Journal.  We draw the line right here.

Subscribers Make This Possible

In order to pull all of this off, The Lunduke Journal relies on subscribers to pay the bills.

Every subscription -- big or small -- goes directly to running the publication.

In fact, the only "promotional material" you will ever find within the pages of The Lunduke Journal... are for The Lunduke Journal itself!

What's even better: The vast majority of articles and shows within The Lunduke Journal never even mention subscriptions in any way.  The articles stand on their own, free from all forms of promotion!

It's pretty spectacular.

A huge thanks to all off you amazing Lunduke Journal Subscribers who make this all possible.

If you haven't picked up your subscription yet, there's no time like the present to support one of the only truly independent, ad-free, AI-free, Big-Tech-free, major Tech Publications left on planet Earth.