"Linux Sucks: The Book" publishing has resumed with a new, in-progress PDF

"The rise, and inevitable fall, of the world’s greatest Operating System"

The first couple chapters of my new book, “Linux Sucks: The rise, and inevitable fall, of the world’s greatest Operating System”, are now available as an in-progress PDF for all subscribers to The Lunduke Journal!

You can follow along as I edit and release new chapters (every few days, starting now), or you can wait until the final edition of the book is released in May. Whatever sounds the most fun to you!

If you’re a subscriber to The Lunduke Journal you can find “Linux Sucks: The Book” (for short) over on the big, giant page of subscriber perks. Regardless of which way you subscribe (Substack, Locals, or Patreon), you can find the links there.

As a reminder: Thanks to the Founding Member Subscribers, the cost of the regular subscription to The Lunduke Journal is currently just $1/month (for the annual subscription). Which… is so crazy cheap it makes my head spin.

The Saga of “Linux Sucks: The Book”

Back in late 2021, I announced a new book, “Linux Sucks”. Based on my “Linux Sucks” presentations, this new book was a journey into the history (and future) of Linux. The definitive “History of Linux” book… combined with lots of fun anecdotes and amusing tidbits (and a hearty dash of ranting).

Almost immediately, a publisher expressed interest in releasing and distributing a physical copy of the book. A deal was quickly reached, and the editing process began.

As the editing progressed… things went sideways.

After many months of going back-and-forth, it became obvious that my vision for a key section of the book (one chapter in particular) was highly different than the vision of the publisher. Specifically: the publisher wanted that chapter deleted completely… but I loved it and refused.

It was obvious: We were at a stalemate.

So we did the grown up thing and parted ways. Amicably. The publisher in question (who some of you will know, but I won’t be naming) is staffed by amazing, talented, and kind people whom I would love to work with again in the future. Just not on this book. Obviously.

While I am a bit bummed that this particular publishing deal did not work out, I am still incredibly happy with the book and quite excited to release it under The Lunduke Journal banner.

I have reverted back to my original draft — before the edits began with the publishing company — and am now in the process of editing and formatting things on my own. Original vision, total creative control. Just the way I like it.

As I finish rounds of edits, I will publish an updated PDF version of the in-progress book. Feel free to follow along with each update — or you can wait for the final edition, which should be ready around the end of the coming month.

As a fun game: See if you can figure out which chapter the publisher didn’t want included. I’m guessing most of you will be able to figure it out based purely on the chapter title.