This month the categories are Best Editor, Best Domain Registrar and Best Laptop. Note that all the contenders listed were nominated by readers via Twitter. Be sure to check LinuxJournal.com for new polls each week and vote for your favorites!
Award winner Vim is an extremely powerful editor with a user interface based on Bill Joy's 40-plus-year-old vi, but with many improved-upon features, including extensive customization with key mappings and plugins. Linux Journal reader David Harrison points out another Vim feature "is that it's basically everywhere. It's available on every major platform."
The very features that make Vim so versatile also have been known to intimidate beginners. Perhaps that's why Linux Journal has featured nearly 100 articles on Vim so far. Readers generally agree though; any learning curve is worth the effort, and again this year, they award Vim the Best Editor title.
Richard Stallman's GNU Emacs comes in a respectable second place in this year's Linux Journal Readers' Choice Awards Best Editor category. Emacs is often referred to as "the most powerful editor ever made". Interesting pop culture trivia: Emacs was featured in the movie Tron: Legacy.
Here's the breakdown for the top-three winners in this category (too many were nominated to list here):
Namecheap is an independent domain registrar founded in 2000 by Richard Kirkendall. He launched it with the idea that "the average people of the internet deserved value-priced domains and stellar service." Now with more than 5 million domains under its management, Namecheap has become a leader in both the budget-domain and web-hosting spaces. No hidden fees and a general sense of honesty and transparency from Namecheap are reasons cited by Linux Journal readers for their devotion to the company.
Who to watch for: Gandi, in a close second place, comes in as another favorite. Linux Journal reader Mathieu T. commented, "I am currently moving everything to GANDI. Easy to use and clear interface, and a reactive support."
The ThinkPad began life at IBM, but in 2005, it was purchased by Lenovo along with the rest of IBM's PC business. Lenovo evolved the line, and today the company is well known as a geek favorite. Lenovo's ThinkPads are quiet, fast and arguably have one of the best keyboards (fighting words!). Linux Journal readers say Lenovo's Linux support is excellent, leaving many to ponder why the company doesn't ship laptops with Linux installed.
Who to watch for: System76, a small shop out of Denver, Colorado, is a Linux community favorite, coming in a very respectable third place in our poll among some heavyweight vendors. System76 is first and foremost a Linux shop, and as a result, its laptops ship with Linux pre-installed. In fact, according to Wikipedia, "The number 76 in the company name alludes to the year 1776, the year in which the American Revolution took place. The company founders hope likewise to ignite an open source revolution, ultimately leading to a situation in which consumers do not rely primarily on proprietary software."