Why I Started This Blog

Back in 2002, I wanted to write about my experience in getting Linux to run on a Windows laptop, because I was sure other folks had the same questions and issues that I did.

The question back then: should I roll my own site or use a blogging tool?

I checked out some blogging tools, including Blogger, and decided to roll my own site (Ed's Software Guide on Linux), because

• blog software back then wasn't as evolved as it is now
• I wanted to set up multiple sites on different topics (e.g. linux, online gaming, and Raiders football) and manage them with 1 account
• I wanted control, partly because I was learning and experimenting with CSS
  

In retrospect, I made a mistake: my sites didn't support user comments. So I missed out on a huge value-add of Web 2.0: input and interaction between users.

I got a lot of emails, thousands actually, regarding stuff I wrote on my Linux site. E.g. one page in particular has been listed top 2-3 on Google for almost 7 years, and it's been viewed millions of times and translated into 6 languages. That was really cool.

While it was worthwhile building that site, both in terms of what I learned in doing so, as well as sharing knowledge that was helpful to people, I didn't publish that content in a Web 2.0 way.

So here I am, 7 years later, trying a blogging service. I've read multiple articles on choosing a blogging platform (best and current article by Melanie Nelson). For simplicity I'm going with Blogger, because it's easy-to-use and I am more concerned with cranking out content than having complete control. Down the road I may switch to another blogging platform (or run my own on a framework like Rails), and if I switch, I'll state why on this blog.

I'll use this blog to write about technical challenges I run into, especially when I can't find clear documentation on the Internet, because I won't be the only person wrestling with any given issue. And my hope is that people will Google and find an article from my site that enables them to solve their problem.

Cheers,

Ed