Comments on: Melting Down the "Linux" Global Will

By: duvjones

duvjones — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:11:37 +0000

I am not sure that is the case here.
My understanding is that most users in Linux (most of whom are developers) could really care less about correcting a marketing message. To reason, being that there is not much of a “marketing massage” to begin with… between Distributions theirs a need for one seeing as it’s the distributions that contact people directly, but as a whole it just doesn’t exist.

Through I will a admit that some synergy between distros, would be interesting.

By: ethana2

ethana2 — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:58:46 +0000

I go to great lengths never to mention Linux to anyone who isn’t already familiar with it. No one cares about the code in the box, the code that disappears.

My running line for Ubuntu right now is “It’s like Mac, but it runs on PCs.. and it’s completely free.”

By: Dorian

Dorian — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:49:40 +0000

Randall,

Media and spin are synonymous today. It is all about generating hype and emotions. And not about reporting like it used to. (Hence I went into compsci and not journalism.)

Martin,
Excellent post. I guess the only way to counteract the spin is to carefully market ourselves rather than let someone else generate an opinion for us. In that case, maybe we just to market to the media about what Linux is and isn’t.

By: Randall

Randall — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:23:11 +0000

Martin,

Excellent post as usual.

The “problem” as I see it is that the media have so misused (spun) the term Linux that most (non-computer) people have no clue what it is. And, too many people who do (Linux hacks, free software advocates, etc.) sadly choose to accept the confusion as handed to them rather than to stop it in its tracks with correct information.

It’s easy to stop if we all chip in. Thanks for being one of the (current) few that stands up and calls it what it is: ridiculous.

Cheers,
Randall
Ubuntu Vancouver Buzz Generator