OLinux: Please introduce yourself. (career, education, hobbies, personal and professional achievements).

Marty Pitts: My name is Marty Pitts.I worked in the nuclear industry for 13 years before joining Linux Today, in jobs ranging from Purchasing Agent to Network Admin. I like to ski in the winter, hike and camp in the summer and read SciFi in between.I also like to play around with the latest Linux distros.

OLinux: How long have you been working and what are your responsibilities at Linux Today?

Marty Pitts: When I became interested in using Linux at work, I started looking for a information about Linux online.One of the resources I came across was Linux Today. I liked that it was updated hourly. When I found news that they did not have, I started using their contrib form.After several months, the site owners: Dave and Dwight, asked if I would be interested in working as a volunteer on the site. Having become a Linux news junkie, I jumped at the chance.

In the summer of 1999, Dave sent me an email asking what my employment situation was.It just so happened that at my current job, my boss of several year had just turned in his notice to quit.It was a good opportunity to think about a career change.How many people actually get a chance to work at what they love?

I started working for Dave and Dwight in September of 1999 full time as the Managing Editor.About a month later, Dave and Dwight sold the Linux Today web properties, which included LinuxPR.com, to internet.com. I have been as a full time employee of internet.com ever since.

OLinux: How's the site organized? Give us an idea of how the Linux Today works. How many people are involved?

Marty Pitts: For the whole channel, which includes 14 web sites, there are approximately 9 full time editors and programmers.

Right now there are two full time people who work on Linux Today, myself and Michael Hall.We also take care of LinuxPR and a couple of other sites in the Linux/Open Source channel.

Michael lives on the east coast of the US, and I live in Washington state on the west coast.So naturally we break up the day, with Michael covering the first part of the day and then I come online later with a couple hours of overlap.

OLinux: Can you describe Linux Today evolution since it began?

Marty Pitts: Dave and Dwight were the ones that came up with the idea for Linux Today and they are the ones who successfully executed that idea.They were successful enough to attract the attention of internet.com.

It started as a labor of love for Dave and Dwight.They wanted to provide a resource that people could use to find out what was going in the Linux/Open Source world.They started the site on September 30, 1998. A year later, they had both quit their daytime jobs to work full time on the site, they had been able to hire a full time editor, and they had posted over 10,000 stories. Currently we are right at 34,000 stories posted, just on Linux Today.

After the sale of the site to internet.com, somethings changed and others remained surprisingly the same.Dave chose to leave and pursue other goals, Dwight stayed on and we worked to keep the site going. To replace Dave, who had done most of the site programming, Paul Ferris was hired.

Paul, a great guy, started working on the programming side but still found time to write his column: Rant Mode Equals One.Currently we are using the second iteration of the site code, which Paul wrote, and we are about to roll out the third iteration of the code.It will provide increased flexibility so that the code will be able to be used across a variety of different sites, each with its own unique requirements.

What stayed the same, during the transition, was the direction and focus of Linux Today. We were told to keep doing what we had been doing that had made Linux Today a popular site, which was a relief.

Today we have a lot more original content than we used to. In addition, our focus is on making the whole Linux/Open Source channel work together well.