[OT] TV, Internet, and Democracy

[John Van Ostrand]

On Fri, 2007-05-25 at 09:56 -0400, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
> I may be sorry to mention this, but an excellent example of this mistake
> (IMO) was the reaction of some on the community to the Microsoft Vista
> launch. Stand on the corner across the street, demonstrate, inflate a
> big penguin, and hand out CDs. It certainly made the participants feel
> good (look how many brochures we burned through!) and was great for peer
> recognition (participants later judged the event a success because
> photos of it found their way onto social websites). But the net real
> effect of that event, to get more open source use in Toronto, was near
> zero. Make no mistake, this event was done for the benefit of the people
> doing it, not the target audience -- it served a purpose, to be sure,
> but not the one stated.

It's unfair to say that the Vista launch demonstration was ineffective
because it had little effect. Virtually all individual ads have little
effect. It's the sum of many ads that make the difference. The more
people that see the inflated penguin pop-up, the more they will think of
it when they see Linux. It's reinforcement.

> People complaining because the show was not just focused on Linux may
> have forgotten to notice that Linux tradeshows are tanking around the
> world. Remember the New York LinuxWorld every February? At the turn of
> the century it ate up nearly a third of the cavernous Javitz Centre, now
> it's GONE. Ditto the original Linux Expo in Raleigh, and other efforts
> as well are either gone or hurting.

The trade show is dying, the conference is still there, but it can't be
priced like IT360 (or most commercial trade shows.) The Ohio Linux Fest
grows every year and is full of great content. It's focus is Linux and
Open Source.

These types of events are popping everywhere. Locally we have the Ottawa
Linux Symposium, the FSOSS at Seneca, Hick Tech in Owen Sound, and the
Ontario Linux Fest at the TCC, and probably more that I don't know
about. Those efforts are not hurting, in fact their growing in number
and attendance.


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