The Lineup

Welcome to the launch of ;login: Online! ;login: Online is still a work in progress, and we're starting out with six articles and columns:

• Tom Limoncelli carefully explains the difference between low and high context situations, and why you want to arrange for low-context in your workplace.
• Laura Nolan considers SRE as a form of High Modernism: a faith in scientific management and development, and a rejection of crafts and traditions.
• Joel Nider, Craig Mustard, Andrada Zoltan and Sasha Fedorova explain why we will soon be seeing Processing in Storage Class Memory.
• Dan Geer and Adam Oest present challenges and current solutions to phishing, the most common and effective way of attacking internal networks.
• Simson Garfinkel describes why he has come to like C++ during the process of updating the version used for a software package.
• Mark Lamourine reviews Modern Computer Architecture and Organization by Jim Ledin, a clear tutorial that takes the reader from gates to the RISC-V CPU.

With the lineup out of the way, it's time to write more about what's happening with ;login:. You may have noticed that the initial launch of the digital version took longer than the three months that print editions once took. In truth, preparing the Web server backend took longer than expected, something that is all too common in software. Part of the challenge is that the initial design needed to be changed once implemented to better suit the transition from print to digital. And we expect that the interface design will continue to evolve over time as we receive feedback from you, the readers, as well as the authors.

Our goal in moving ;login: entirely online was to create a fully open access version of ;login: that could be more nimble and better embody USENIX’s values of free sharing of information, while reducing costs and conserving resources. Instead of the very long time each issue took to work through the production pipeline, articles may appear within days of first being proposed, meaning a greater timeliness. 

Doing this opens the way for more people to contribute articles, hopefully meaning people will write about current events in computer science, including talks and presentations, experiences with open source software, and new books. Authors will still need to propose articles, and if the proposal is accepted, a shepherd will be assigned to assist with the process of uploading a draft, editing, and posting the published version. Authors will retain the ability to update their articles.

The new interface allows USENIX members the exclusive benefit to comment on posted articles, and authors can respond, and perhaps change their posted articles in response as their ideas evolve.

Shepherds from the various communities within USENIX will be chosen. We already have shepherds for two communities: Laura Nolan and Effie Mouzelli for SRE and Vijay Chidambaram and Bill Jannen from FAST. Shepherds become the new editors, although I will continue to be involved in evaluating proposals as well as shepherding articles that need to be fast-tracked.

We know that this new format lacks features of the print edition, in particular, the ability to read an issue anywhere there is light. We also have lost useful (although expensive and time-consuming) parts of the production pipeline, such as copy-editing and layout. Shepherds will do their best to offer copy-editing feedback, and at least with a Web version, articles can be corrected, something impossible to do with print.

We plan to post articles regularly, although the frequency is not yet determined, as ;login: Online is a work in progress. However, we still have a backlog of articles and proposals and I expect you'll see more articles posted soon.