@Martin

You make some good points about Firefox. Mozilla last year broke a
record for most downloads of a single program. There is one thing
though to realize. Just because someone downloads a program such as
Firefox, it doesn't mean the program is being actively used. Some
people see it different or not compatible with some websites. Because
of it being different from Internet Explorer, people are scared of
change.

As for advertising Linux distributions such as Ubuntu as a new release
every 6 months is kind of overkill. Plus, TV is not the only answer. I
have a friend that works at the local rock radio station here in
Seattle. He told me that radio advertising is way cheaper than TV
advertising and reaches a much larger audience when advertised during
the AM morning drive and/or the afternoon drive home shows.

Now you made an excellent point about advertising the LTS releases. My
thought was to show that every 6 months there is a on schedule
'service pack' release to upgrade and improve the already great
software that they already have. Also, the advertising could take a
direct stab at Microsoft by pointing out that each new 'service pack'
or 'upgrade' release won't cost $100 to obtain. It's completely free.

Some people believe that open source programs aren't very good because
the end user isn't paying money to get it. It's an odd concept to me,
but I can see how some could be that way. They need to experience it
before making any judgement calls. How about setting up test kiosks in
some malls/gallerias. Could prove to be interesting.

This is just a tiny taste of ideas I have and would like to see tried
by the community. Take your laptops with Linux installed on it and
show the diehard Windows users that you can do what they do, and you
have all the tools to do it easily and for free. Advocate open source,
but don't force it on people. Inform them about it, what it could do
for them, how easy it is to perform various tasks and so on.

John Pyper
TrigaTronic Designs, L.L.C.
Kent, WA, USA
BaD_CrC on Freenode IRC



On 1/23/09, Martin Božič <email address hidden> wrote:
> Mozilla had an ad in NYT in 2004 when they released Firefox 1.0, funded
> by donations FF users. I don't know how much did this add to the actual
> usage, but in my country there was no ad and we're supposed to be
> leading one of the leading countries in Europe (in Slovenia above 50%
> users are using FF). I'm still trying to figure how this happened and if
> other software could follow the same path.
>
> The problem with advertising a Linux distribution is that, every 6
> months you get a new release. I think that this would demand an
> advertising model that even proprietary software companies would have
> difficulties to keep up with. Maybe every LTS could be advertised in
> traditional media. The problem is that advertising Ubuntu beyond the
> circle of computer power users would in a consumer blowback as it
> recently occured with MSI Wind netbooks and the epic fail of a student
> with preloaded Ubuntu Dell laptop.
>
> It's not that Linux is not ready for the desktop, users are not ready
> for Linux. And how to make them ready for it is the main question here
> and the first step towards good advertising of Linux.
>
> Martin
>
> Dne 23.01.2009 (pet) ob 16:42 +0000 je houstonbofh zapisal(a):
>
>> jaypmcwilliams wrote:
>>
>> > "How can we begin advertising LINUX on Radio, TV & stores"? Please tell
>> > me & I would be happy to help.
>>
>> The problem is that advertising is expensive.  I will spend the money,
>> but only to promote my business.  If I promote my business, and some of
>> my vendors, I can get co-op money.  There is no Linux co-op money.  What
>> we need is a new "open source" project that does advertising.  If every
>> geek sent in a buck, we could do major national adds.
>>
>
> --
> Microsoft has a majority market share
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in Club Distro: Confirmed
> Status in Computer Science Ubuntu: Confirmed
> Status in Ichthux - Linux for Christians: Confirmed
> Status in JAK LINUX: Confirmed
> Status in The OpenOffice.org Suite: Invalid
> Status in Launchpad Translations: Invalid
> Status in Tabuntu: Confirmed
> Status in Ubuntu: In Progress
> Status in "bum" source package in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in "casper" source package in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in "djplay" source package in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in "firefox" source package in Ubuntu: Invalid
> Status in "ubuntu-express" source package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
> Status in The Breezy Badger: Invalid
> Status in The Dapper Drake: Invalid
> Status in Baltix GNU/Linux: Confirmed
> Status in "linux" source package in Debian: Confirmed
> Status in Fluxbuntu: The Lightweight, Productive, Agile OS: Confirmed
> Status in Tilix Linux: New
>
> Bug description:
> Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC marketplace.
> This is a bug, which Ubuntu is designed to fix.
>
> Non-free software is holding back innovation in the IT industry, restricting
> access to IT to a small part of the world's population and limiting the
> ability of software developers to reach their full potential, globally. This
> bug is widely evident in the PC industry.
>
> Steps to repeat:
>
> 1. Visit a local PC store.
>
> What happens:
> 2. Observe that a majority of PCs for sale have non-free software
> pre-installed.
> 3. Observe very few PCs with Ubuntu and free software pre-installed.
>
> What should happen:
> 1. A majority of the PCs for sale should include only free software like
> Ubuntu.
> 2. Ubuntu should be marketed in a way such that its amazing features and
> benefits would be apparent and known by all.
> 3. The system shall become more and more user friendly as time passes.
>