Fwd: Ubuntu Ice House: Repeat Event Today!

[Jamon Camisso]

Stephen Allen wrote:
> Jamon Camisso wrote:
> 
>> Nothing embarrassing about the event hitting the front page of digg a 2
>> times in as may days. Nor is there anything embarrassing about 1600+
>> hits per hour with a peak of 11,000 per hour at one point on my tiny xen
>> server hosting my photos of the event and Dave Sullivan's post-event
>> wrapup. 77,000 hits in 2 days and counting...
> 
> <snip>
> 
>> I think there may be more of a generation gap at work here than any of
>> us care to admit. However, repeating the past in an iteratively
>> improving fashion isn't a bad thing if there are improvements to be made
>> (IMHO of course). So trotting out a cliche like that lends your argument
>> little force, rhetorical or otherwise.
> 
> Caveat: I'm in the advertising/marketing business. :)
> 
> TLinux needs quality advertising and endorsements. This grass roots
> thing isn't effective, (in this case) because it reinforces the stereo
> type that Linux enthusiasts are nothing but hobbyists, poor students or
> geeks.

So I shouldn't bother getting people to try it out because you aren't 
out there with me? Dundas Square is a great location judging by the 
number of other poor students and hobbyists who were there. Geeks too.

Just remember these words I heard once from a marketing friend who no 
doubt picked it up from somewhere else: "Geek is chic"

> Not that there is anything wrong with either of those, but you get my
> drift, I'm sure.
> 
> Judging the success of your endeavour by how many digg hits or visits to
> your personal blog, doesn't mean much in the real world.

Perhaps there is more to it than just "real world" success. After all, 
if someone hears about it and downloads a binary copy, what's real about 
that apart from electrons over a few tubes? Real or not, I heard about 
Linux online, learned about it online, downloaded and installed it 
without ever meeting anyone in the "real world" of which you speak. 
Suffice to say that I'm guilty on all counts of shameless idealism and 
complete and utter contempt for the middle class panacea of the "real 
world" which I'm sure consists largely of white, responsible, pragmatic 
and career or family oriented, middle management types and decision makers.

Overly harsh, I know, but I hear this real world thing often enough to 
know that it is usually a thinly veiled (unacknowledged?) attempt to 
keep people from trying to do something where they just might succeed 
where another has failed. I do not mean to imply anything by that 
statement, your intent is simply to dismiss, not cut down or belittle.

> Now, if you got some publicity on the main stream blogs or media (as
> long as it's good publicity) that would be rather successful, in my view.

Digg is not a small site by any means. Not a "mainstream" blog (of which 
I'm sure many are commercialized to the point of impenetrability 
anyways), but not something to be totally written off either.

> The kind of advertising that Linux requires,(IMO) is the kind geared
> towards decision makers, and definitely NOT the kind were you're
> essentially, crashing another's party.
> 
> That's pretty negative in my book -- I don't know many people that are
> that impressed with the type of advertising that happened on the weekend
> (outside the ice house). In my mind it's no different than being a
> Jehovah Witness, or an Evangelical, passing out tracts on the street
> corner, it's just about as effective.

Suits or not, apart from this list and the MSDN forums, the feedback has 
been overwhelmingly positive.

And what utter nonsense that religious bit, whatever the Church of 
Stallman might say to the contrary. Absolutely different as there is no 
implicit or explicit moralizing or judgment of the people we were 
talking to, nor (at least for me) is/was there any smugness involved. 
Totally different. And effective too as we had someone else post back 
that they had tried the disc and liked it.

> I'm not really sure that Geeks are the best suited for this type of
> work. There generally is a reason why Marketing is separate from
> Engineering. So obviously I don't think LUGs are good for this either. ;)
> 
> It really has nothing to do with a perceived "generation gap", more in
> knowing how to sell to your customer.

Who is precisely on the side of the gap that doesn't care about 
corporate decision making yet. We're not talking about customers, we're 
talking about and to people--there is a huge difference in approaches.
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