Welcome to the 2013 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Awards
 

Welcome to the 2013 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Awards. The categories have been chosen, the nominees have been posted and I'm happy to announce that the polls are now open. To vote, visit http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ce-awards-109/ and select your entry in each category. If you have any suggestions for additions or modifications to poll nominees, please post in the thread for the poll in question. Any general suggestions should be posted in this thread.

A couple comments:

* We do realize that some polls have nominees that are not directly comparable. There are already over 30 polls. If we got down to the granularity some members would like to see, there would be 100's if not 1000's of polls. That would be a net decline in the usefulness of the awards IMHO. We try to strike the best balance we can, and do modify the polls and nominees every year, based on feedback. If you have any suggestions on how the polls can be improved, do let us know.

* There are no set in stone guidelines for voting. Our recommendation is to base your vote on which application you found most valuable to you in 2013, along with which project you feel made the largest improvements in 2013. That being said, in the end the criteria is up to you.

* Posting a comment is optional, but do be aware that for your vote to count you have to select an option and click the "Vote Now" button (regardless of whether you have left a comment or not).

* You must have at least one post to be able to vote.

* All polls will close on February 4th at 12PM LQST.

Congratulations to all nominees and good luck!

--jeremy

Lock catageory ordering
 

Hi Jeremy,

Currently the list of categories keep changing based upon the last post made. I feel it would be helpful if the order of categories remain constant and dont keep changing. For example if window manager category is at 3rd in the list, i think it would be better if it remained at 3rd position.

HTH
ashwin

I am starting to learn to use Linux (CentOS and Ubuntu) and it has been an interesting experience need to learn and spend time to build my skills

While "Last Post" is the default, you can sort individual fora in any order you like by clicking on the category header at the top.

--jeremy

Hi Jeremy,

I'm a long time reader of this forum, but I don't normally post here. I'd like to participate in the polls. I made a post, however it is not allow me to vote.

~Tauro

There may be a very small delay in-between making your first post and your account being updated to allow you to vote.

--jeremy

Hi Jeremy,

I would have liked to see a poll about web server of the year.

Web Server of the Year was a category last year. While we decided against including it this year it's possible we'll include it again in a future year.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ar-4175441875/

--jeremy

LMDE Rulz!
 

Just kidding. It is great, but I am just making a first post. I would really be interested in Linux desktop/laptop usage statistics by distribution. There doesn't seem to be any simple way to randomly sample the population.

Hi Jeremy,

There are some newcomers around in the web server arena as well as improved ones and that's why I asked for this poll since a bunch of things are now on the net (including cloud stuffs).

I've been using G-WAN for almost 3 years and I recently benchmarked it Vs. Apache2, Cherokee, Lighttpd, Monkey and Nginx (this last one being the fastest of the previous 4).

I know that some "geeks" will argue: "Hey, it's a free shareware but not open source!" like if they never use proprietary tools (video drivers, flash readers, mp3 codec, etc.) and as well as if they are able to modify the Apache2 or Nginx code!

So, I don't care if it's closed source or not since it's free, 2 to 3 times faster, delivers over 3 times more requests per second and needs less CPU and RAM resources than the best Nginx (see the benchmark here).

Further, G-WAN allows you to develop your web2 sites or rich web apps using 16 different programming languages. Just take the one you're more comfortable with from ANSI C, ASM, C++, C# (Mono), Go, Gnustep, Java, Javascript server side (NodeJS), Lua, Objective C, Objective C++, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby or Scala (and more are on the road such as PH7 or QB64).

Even more, there is absolutely no headache with configuration files. Just unzip the G-WAN folder and it runs instantly.

Want to make a more complete test, I wrote an install script to help setting up all the available languages as well as all the dependencies used by the sample servlets here.

Cheers.

No mail clients?

With most people using web mail and many popular Open Source email clients in "maintenance mode", we decided to drop the category a couple years ago.

--jeremy

I'm sorry to say that, Jeremy, no offense meant, but you are a bit clueless... Many many people use desktop/CLI email clients, much more than server related stuff. And also, even Stallman recommends repeatedly, and I agree with him, that you should avoid keeping your personal data in the cloud.

"Image viewer", "document viewer (PDF, PS)", "P2P application (including torrent)", "notetaking application (including personal wiki and journal)", and "best shell interpreter" are some categories of applications that don't appear in any of the polls.

Including them would increase awareness for some worthy applications and help boosting new projects! Sorry for repeating myself!

No more "Open Source device of the year" ?

Indeed many people do; I still use pine. The fact is the the poll saw very low participation and was not very competitive. With only 30ish polls per year we felt it was best to rotate it out in favor of something else. Based on feedback it's possible we'll include email clients in the messaging category next year.

Some of those have been categories in the past. We have a window for suggesting new poll categories, but do not add new polls once the MCA's have started. Thanks for the feedback.

--jeremy

With low participation and not many *new* devices released this year, we decided to rotate it out. We'd certainly consider adding it back in a future MCA.

--jeremy

FWIW, the current Official LQ Poll is: Which Is Your Preferred Linux Shell?

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ll-4175487116/

--jeremy

Thank you, Jeremy!

Thoughts on an Open Source Cloud Solution of the Year category (ie. OpenStack, Eucalyptus, CloudStack, ownCloud, OpenNebula, etc.)?

--jeremy

I am unable to view the results. is that because the results won't be available till after the close of voting?
See the error message below, when I tried to view the voting results.

Results are not available until the polls are closed.

--jeremy

Is it possible to change a vote ?

Changing votes is not possible.

--jeremy

... :/

server platforms
 

I would have liked to see Proxmox and Turnkey Linux get some exposure here. I love and use them both! Ric

Guess it's time to start posting.

It is a celebrated year~~~
 

I like this kind of Formus . It is pretty much useful for me.
Whenever I got question, I go here and got solution.Thank you very much.
As a software engineer to said.

Looking forward to this
 

I've always found these polls interesting to watch every year, and now this time, I'm voting!

I think Cloud platform of the year would be interesting to see. Between, openstack, cloudstack, eucelyptus, aws, digital ocean, rackspace etc.. (I didnt see the window to suggest a new poll?)

Thanks for the feedback. This is an addition we have planned for next year.

--jeremy

I understand the reticence for more categories, but some missing categories are glaring:
* word processor or document authoring, that could include: LyX, LibO Writer, OOo Writer, Abiword, LaTeX
* statistical package: GNU R, Octave, Maxima, etc.
* automatic backup and sync: SpiderOak, Dropbox, Syncany, etc.

I keep drumming about these for a couple of years now, but apparently onto deaf ears. I'm not quite sure why you don't include these?

Thanks for the feedback.

We've done this in the past; participation was low and the category was not competitive.

This is almost certainly not of wide enough interest to dedicate an entire category to. We only have 30 polls and this is a small subset of a topic (programming) that is not a core focus here at LQ.

It's possible we'll switch out the backup category for this one next year.

--jeremy

Well, LyX is an awesome app, and I would love to be able to vote for it. I'm sure many LaTeX addicts roam around here, too. And document authoring is a topic that touches pretty much everyone, nowadays. But well, that's my view.


If you look at it from a programmer's perspective. :) Data analysis and computational tasks certainly rely on much programming, but are a breed of their own. This said, I would also expect low voter turnout for such a category.

Thanks!

Hey Jeremy- my $0.02 on this would be a poll that excluded webmail. Yes, webmail has become the defacto default for many, and hence overwhelmes non webmail clients, making the poll useless.

However, since one of the benefits of these polls is to clue folks into various options they might otherwise have overlooked, I think it might be useful to have a client side "MUA" poll next year. I guess one could argue that a web browser talking to a webapp is just as much of an MUA as something like PINE talking to a POP/IMAP server so maybe call it a "Power User MUA" poll. Webmail may offer convenience, but I've never seen one that even came close to a good client side MUA, e.g. Mutt, Sylpheed, etc.

For example, presently I am using Wanderlust on Emacs and it kicks butt on anything I've used previously when it comes to dealing with LOTS of email. Efficiently. Yeah, more of a pain to set up and not going to rock it on every feature under the planet, e.g. calendars, rss feeds, etc., but conveience is not _always_ the primary criteria and I've got other tools for those tasks. So it might be interesting for newer Linux users to see what some of us old school folks are doing. Maybe not....

Exactly my situation...
 

To add to this 'Statement', I have re-Installed K-Ubuntu 3 times to get familiar with the structure of the "Mount" process. ALL IS WELL - just one comment, it takes so much time; I have a Pentium 3 processor with 2GB ram. Now I have to tackle the various panels and their content. I also need to find the 'Command Dictionary' I used to work with UNIX long ago and now I have to re-learn the language. The purpose of my interest in Linux stems from the fact that Windows Operating system is becoming impossible because by the time it comes out, there is all ready a new version. The only thing that seems to be the same is the 'kernel'. I just wish that there would be something for me to be able to use 'MicroStation Bentley V8i' with Linux because it seems like Bentley does not want to go that way.

Thanks

The Cloud
 

Sir, you are correct. The cloud is a convenience item. Only a fool would put the company's private data in it. I mean, come on, if the governments web sites get hacked regularly, and that's tough, the cloud is there for all to see. Yep, no cloud for me. Besides there are other and better ways to access private data.

Master Rod

I didn't see a category for DVD authoring application of the year. I recall it was included 2 or 3 years back.

If you're running on legacy hardware, especially circa PIII, I suggest you ditch the big DE's entirely (Gnome, KDE, Xfce) and opt for a lightweight window manager. OpenBox would be a good place to start. Lightest yet, imho, are the tiling wm's, e.g. Awesome, Scrotwm, etc. See the wm polls here for examples. Then pick and choose your apps carefully, w/an emphasis on lean and mean. I'll bet you can cherry pick apps that give you 80% of what you need with only 1/3 or the calories (and commensurate bloat) found in the DE standards. Caveat being that you're going to have to roll up your sleves and get under the hood to get these tuned to your tastes. The upside being that you'll actually learn something in the process.

Maybe try LXDE if you need the more cohesive integration of a DE. I used to run LXDE on a couple boxes for my kids on 700MHz PIII hardware and 1GB ram, but that was in earlier days of LXDE and I suspect it's fattened up a bit since then.

For something of a middle ground between WM and DE, maybe take a look at Enlightenment, wh/is extremely efficient (and my personal favorite), but even that is getting noticably heavier these days (E18) and moving more towards DE as they continue adding features. Hence, while I'm sure Enlightenment would be more responsive than KDE, I think it would still be a bit heavy for your hardware.

One thing for sure, you've found the right place for advice. Just make sure "whoever" is being sensitive to your specific situation and canback up their recommendations with technical considerations, and not just proseletyzing their particular fave. Check how many posts they've made. Reputation points can also provide some measure, as can blog posts, etc.

Now that the polls are over, here's one more request for next year: PLEASE allow to sort the results by percentages. It is so frustrating to make any sense of the results, especially in case of many entries and highly competitive polls.

Thanks for the feedback. While that unfortunately isn't possible with the software we currently use, http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/2013mca.php does give a nice visual representation of all polls.

--jeremy

Thanks. Statisticians don't like pie-charts; better use bar graphs:
And completely off-topic: Have you considered switching to more efficient than forums, StackExchange-like Q&A software, such as this open-source product: https://github.com/ialbert/biostar-central ?

Q&A software and forums have fundamentally different goals, so switching LQ to a Q&A platform wouldn't make sense (as LQ is largely about community and discussion). That said, we did launch a Linux and Open Source Q&A site called LinuxExchange quite some time ago: http://linuxexchange.org/

--jeremy

Didn't know the new site. Thanks. As for forums vs Q&A, I suspect then that LQ is slightly misnamed.

To be fair, when I named LQ almost 15 years ago I didn't imagine in my wildest dreams that it would grow to become what it has.

--jeremy

And to be fair, LinuxExchange looks like a good name choice for the Q&A site. I also looked quickly at the stats and it looks less popular than unix.SE.com.

Just a quick note that we'll be archiving the 2013 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Awards forum in a few days. As always, the forum itself and all threads will remain fully accessible forever.

--jeremy