by Rob Kolstad
<kolstad@usenix.org>

Rob Kolstad is president of BSDI and a long-time USENIX member, having served as chair of several conferences and workshops, director on the Board, and editor of ;login:. He is also head coach of the USA programming team.

State of the Editor

I watched our (current) President's State of the Union Address last night; he had a whole grab bag of ideas and programs. It's interesting to observe that this is one of the few times that we get to observe a certain kind of leadership in action: "Here are my ideas; let's implement them." While we all see this in our own lives at work, at home, and maybe at other activities like churches or clubs, I just love it when people have great ideas and then go implement them.

I thought maybe I could write a bit about how things are going for ;login: and for me. With any luck, I'll inspire new ideas for writing articles and columns.

Looking backward at the last year, it's easy to see that this was our Magazine's best year ever. Circulation is at an all-time high; page count is at an all-time high; number of issues, likewise. Editorial quality continues to improve; the typesetting "look" and overall appearance are better than ever. The number of authors has increased along with the variety of articles. It was truly a banner year for ;login:!

Of course, this is because ;login: is a team effort. Many people pay lip service to this concept, but it's really true for this job. We have editors for various areas of content, "goaders" who solicit articles, typesetters, guest editors, proofreaders, production people -- and, of course, authors. Each person is indispensable. It's a marvelous machine to watch. Thanks to everyone who helped with ;login: this year!

On a more personal note, I've had an interesting year. I'm working now with security people and am even thinking of heading up an initiative to set a bar for a reasonable standard of security. I moved into a new house and was able to "touch" all my "stuff" as it went by after over ten years in the previous house. My oh my but that's a lot of stuff! It's nice out here in the country, though: very quiet and very dark at night. Come visit if you're in the neighborhood (Colorado Springs).

What of the future? What of initiatives and programs to improve the newsletter? USENIX Executive Director Ellie Young has been a tremendous source of new ideas and inspiration for the magazine. She was a driving force in getting the comprehensive conference summaries going. I hope to be able to find information even half as useful.

The page count of ;login: is about as large as it can get. If larger, we must change binding methods (which should properly be a one-way street) and add a few days to the editorial process. Currently, we turn an entire issue of ;login: in just under two months - an extremely timely turn. If we continue to get ever more material, we will increase the number of issues per year over the six regular and several special issues already scheduled.

The "look" of ;login: should continue to improve as we get better at finding relevant photographs and other visual devices. I found a source for crossword puzzles; let me know if you think this issue's puzzle is too hard or too easy.

Our editorial board meeting identified a few new topics we'd like to cover. I'd like to hear from you about this, too. Please write me at <kolstad@usenix.org> if you have ideas about articles or columns you'd like to see.

I'm looking forward to an even better year in 1999. Please do let me know if you'd like to contribute; there's always room!