On Friday 18 August 2006 14:23, Jan Claeys wrote:
[snip]
> Actually, I read some Microsoft blogs that aren't boring (at least to
> me), like Raymond Chen's ("The Old New Thing").
> <http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/>
>
> (I learned more about Windows from his blog than from reading MSDN &
> books about Windows.)True, not all of them are bad, however they aren't open. They can't be personal, and if they do, it has to be for Microsoft. Myself and a couple of others that are Ubuntu users in the community have worked for the giant, and on occasion one of us has posted to a Microsoft blog. I will not set that person out ;) HAHA! > I don't have an MBA or anything, but I don't see much difference between > open source and closed source marketing. Both use centrally coordinated > publicity campaigns and grassroots "goodwill" based marketing, depending > on their financial possibilities. 15 credits left until I officially have mine. and 10 of those credits are Thesis based courses, so I am afraid ;) However, the goals of marketing will be pretty much the same, and that is to sell the product. However, the actual plan of attack will be different as well as the documentation. Say we had 2 versions of Ubuntu, one open source, and one proprietary closed source. We can't market them the same, as they would have different objectives or uses. Grassroots campaigns are very good, however they will only go so far. There aren't many, if any, organizations that base their entire marketing scheme on grassroots campaigning. You can only knock on so many doors, make so many phone calls, hold so many install fests, put up so many posters, and what not. There needs to be something fresh, something to drive the campaigns that will strive to get new people to these events, that will in turn go out and do the same. That is why we need to work directly with the LoCo teams. Right now Ubuntu Chicago has a pretty good grassroots campaign going on. There are close to 30 active members, who on a daily basis, market or spread Ubuntu big time. I think every member, if possible, of the marketing team should be a part of an Ubuntu LoCo, or at least a LUG. This will definitely help you out with your campaigns as you go along. There is no way, that by myself, I would have ever gotten more than 100 people to show up to an install fest that is normally 15 people at most, installing windows, or trying to install FreeBSD. We had close to a split between women and men. We installed nothing but, Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu. One gentleman tried Xubuntu, but disliked it. > Clever companies (or clever departments in companies) support this > grassroots marketing (Microsoft's newsgroups, Team Borland, some > successful open source projects). Oh w/o a doubt. Everyone has gone back to grassroots marketing, however in the US stiffer solicitation laws are killing the classic "door to door vacuum cleaner" grassroots campaigning I remember as a child. And that leads to part 2, the next paragraph. > And those who don't have this grassroots marketing try to fake or force > it and are almost always put in public naked... ;-) I think that falls into play with my last sentences. People read about grassroots and see that it is down and dirty work. To start off, you have to be willing to get your hands dirty. White-collar, blue-collar, it doesn't matter, you are going to be doing physical or manual labor. Printing up pamphlets is just the beginning, getting those pamphlets out is just starting, and bringing in the masses to your very own Ubuntu convention is the embodiment. So people take grassroots with a grain of salt, and just jump right into it. And like you said, with that wonderful analogy, they are put out into the public naked. With that being said, I think that all of the previous LoCo chat that has gone on needs to start coming to the forfront, as we as a Marketing Team, can only do so much. We are a team on IRC, but when you log off, they aren't there waiting for you at the door. You either have to become part of a larger group, or do what I did and create a group. Jan, thanks for the reply to this thread! Lets not be like some other Linux distros who had a good start, but didn't market themselves correctly. We know who they are ;) Take care! > > -- > Jan Claeys -- Richard Johnson ~ [EMAIL PROTECTED] ubuntu.com <> kubuntu.com <> edubuntu.com <> xubuntu.com chi.ubuntu-us.com <> buntudot.org online everywhere as nixternal <><
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