Homegrown Linux/FOSS Adverts

[Richard Dice]

Scott,

As always I appreciate your enthusiasm.  Do you have a target market and a
corresponding message identified for the campaign?  Do you have a desired
outcome identified?  I.e. something that would fill in the blank for the
statement "We will know if our advertising efforts were successful if we
notice that _______ happened afterwards."

Also, I'm curious regarding what it is with the current state of the world
that you find unappealing such that you want to influence it?  Is it Linux
desktop adoption?  iPods dominate the mp3 player market rather than
Linux-based players?  Insufficient interoperability of Linux / FLOSS systems
with systems provided by commerical vendors?  What exactly are you unhappy
with?  Figuring out answers to these questions will probably make easier
answering the questions I asked in the first paragraph.

My impression of the software world is that it's working out pretty well for
FLOSS in recent years and that the battles are mainly political and legal
now. (E.g. DRM, patently unfair-and-getting-worse copyright regimes creeping
across the world, patent policy with regards to software.)  As long as the
legal regime can be kept (or made) balanced then FLOSS will come out a
winner in most avenues of interest and pretty much all places where it
should.

Cheers,
Richard

On 5/29/07, Scott Elcomb <psema4-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
> Ok, so this was the TV, Internet & Democracy thread.  WTH.  I'd just
> like to know if anyone here thinks we _can_ make a difference.
>
> Now, before anyone responds directly to that statement, I'd like to
> clarify a moment.
>
> #1 - I know a bunch of folks on this list (and others besides) that
> _would like to_ make a difference [in the way Linux/FOSS is
> "understood" by the General Public].  All, fortunately, with differing
> skill-bases.
>
> #2 - I know there's virtually no money to work with.  Any financial
> support would have to come from GTALUG sponsors and/or fundraising.
>
> #3a - I'm looking, for the moment, as to _why_ (eg. reasons *you*
> might support an advertising campaign)
>
> #3b - and _how_ (eg. what media and/or strategies might *you* employ)
> to make it possible.
>
> Perhaps these questions are rhetorical.  Then again, I also suppose
> that would depend on the feedback received.
>
> --
> Scott Elcomb
>
> "Our Founders' faith in the viability of representative democracy
> rested on their trust in the wisdom of a well-informed citizenry,
> their ingenious design for checks and balances, and their belief that
> the rule of reason is the natural sovereign of a free people." - Al
> Gore (The Assault on Reason, 2008)
>
> "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
> safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."  - Benjamin Franklin
>
> '"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting
> on its shoes."  - Mark Twain
> --
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