If you're a Linux Voice reader, you may be wondering what this magazine you have in your hands is – I'll get to that, but first I'll start with a little background information. Three years ago, we set out to create a great Linux magazine, and to our eternal gratitude (and surprise) many of you supported us through our crowd funding campaign, and together we launched Linux Voice. Back then we were told we were crazy to launch a print magazine in the digital age. Perhaps we were, but for three fantastic years we defied the odds and produced a product we're proud of. I'd like to thank all of you for helping us do that.

We created Linux Voice because we were passionate about Free Software, and we are so grateful to you, our readers, for sustaining and supporting our vision. Earlier this year, however, a combination of factors brought our dream face to face with reality, and it became clear that Linux Voice would have to change to survive.

That brings us here. We still believe that the Free Software community is what makes Free Software great, and we still believe that passionate communities deserve passionate magazines. We wanted to keep going with our vision, and we decided after much consideration the best path ahead was to merge with Linux Magazine. By bringing together two groups of enthusiastic Linux writers and evangelists, we hope we can make the magazine the community deserves.

If you're a regular Linux Magazine reader, I hope you like this addition. If you want to find out more about Linux Voice, you'll find loads of stuff on our website (www.linuxvoice.com), including back issues of our old magazine and our podcast.

– Ben Everard