On Fri, Jan 30, 2004 at 10:00:21PM -0700, Josh Jeppson wrote: > Anybody seen IBM's new Linux commercials? The ones > with the very white little boy who is 'adopted' by > the world? What do you all think? Like/dislike? > Comments? > > They strike me as a little strange.
Some of the best ads out there are ``a little strange.'' Here is a transcript of the commercial: http://www-3.ibm.com/e-business/doc/content/ondemand/prodigy_transcript.html This commercial marks a milestone in the history of GNU/Linux and Free Software. The most established and widely respected technology company in the world is now putting its name (hence, reputation) and money behind it in a massive ad campaign. The commercial itself contains on philosophical underpinnings relating to the nature of knowledge and the dynamics of human interaction and progress. ``It takes a village to rear a child,'' so the saying goes. GNU/Linux is the child, and the worldwide community of hackers (and paid professional developers, who can also be hackers :-) constitute the village. The prodigy commercial captures this sentiment elegantly. And now for my personal line-by-line analysis of this commercial: > Open on young boy sitting in chair, camera pans overhead. The boy, in the most transparent sense, represents the GNU/Linux source code. He can also represent more than just the software; he can represent mankind, as its members participate in the development of the software. The code is Open; any structure, algorithm, or other design that goes into Free Software is freely available to others for study. In that sense, everyone learns and develops as the prodigy ``learns'' and develops in a synergistic manner. ``Knowledge amplification.'' Traditional academic environments depended largely upon the expertise of the professor. The technology available to students was sub-par to what was actually being used in industry, because industry kept the details of its implementations secret. Technology businesses believed that this secrecy gave them a competitive advantage that would translate directly into added revenue; as it turns out, the dynamics of the technology market may not be so simple. That ``competitive advantage'' can come at a terrible price; after all, all ships rise with the tide. > Male Voice: I think you should see this. This represents those who are ``in the know'' about GNU/Linux and Free Software. We are amazed by it because we see what it is and what is could be. > Female Voice: Its just a kid. This is a typical reaction from those who learn about GNU/Linux and Free Software for the first time. It is just starting to gain widespread adoption; it is, relative to other operating systems and software packages, a newcomer. In reality, much of the foundation of GNU/Linux was laid quite some time ago, but the complete GNU/Linux as a packaged product is relatively young. People look at it that way. > Cut to young boy sitting in front of rock musician. > > Rock Guy: This is a G chord. (Strums his guitar) This is when the instruction of the prodigy begins in the commercial. It is a high-level description of a concept, followed by a demonstration of that concept to the child. Of course, that G chord could have been produced an a plethora of musical instruments, but it is always a G chord, no matter what is used to play it. It is interesting to note that the first bit of instruction is more of an artistic nature than a scientific. I liken it to the ability of humankind to learn from what they observe and integrate that into their community. Of course, the G chord is representative of a much more broad concept of music. One can assume that the musician will continue to instruct the prodigy on other chords. He will then explain the concept of harmony, then melody. Pitch, timing, clefts, crescendo, scales, and other concepts relating to music will naturally follow. Then, the rock musician will go on to play something like Stairway to Heaven, demonstrating what the constructs of music can produce. The many individual principles of computer science and engineering are interesting in and of themselves, but they are symphonic when combined into a complete GNU/Linux package. Within the context of Free Software, we have the sheet music. We can see each individual part, and we can improve upon the individual parts. Thus the whole turns out to be more than just the sum of those parts. > Cut to boy sitting in chair, side view (overhead). > > Male Voice: Hes learning. Absorbing. Hes getting smarter every > day. Any principle of knowledge that finds its way into a Free Software product becomes a principle of knowledge that is inherited by mankind, because the code that describes the operation is freely available for all to study, learn from, and integrate. GNU/Linux has nowhere to go but up. It will not disappear when some company goes out of business. The code is here to stay, and there will always be people who will continue to improve upon it and refine it. The wealth of Free Software will continue to increase, and our wealth of knowledge will increase with it. > Cut to boy with anthropologist sitting across from him. > > Anthropologist: Homo habilis was the first to use > tools. Anthropologists tend to agree that the only thing that distinguishes mankind from the other living creatures on the earth is the extent to which men use tools. GNU/Linux is just that - a tool. Our ability to build it and use it effectively is what defines us as human beings. Only this is a tool that we are building collaboratively using the new technology of the Internet that has formed in just the last few decades. This is another big step in the evolution of the toolmaking process. > Cut to Coach John R. Wooden speaking to boy. > > Coach Wooden: A player who makes a team great is more valuable > than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the > group, thats teamwork. This is very insightful. It's hard to be a one-man superstar in the Free Software world. If you run off and do your own thing, without communicating and working together with the community through the process, you are likely to duplicate effort, produce something that does not integrate well with what everyone else is trying to do, or add little value to what is already there. In fact, if you can even hinder the progress of the community by distracting them from what they are trying to accomplish as a team. I believe that IBM is also making a statement here about its commitment to being a team player in the Free Software community. > Cut to close-up of boy. > > Male Voice: It's happening fast. Boy is it ever! All the pieces have been falling into place very quickly. Keeping up seems to be the biggest challenge we face. > Cut to astronomer speaking to boy. > > Astronomer: We've always watched the stars. If you look at the > sky, you can see the beginning of time. The stars have always represented the grandeur of creation and the vastness of the universe. Mankind has always pushed forward, to learn more of his world, and there is always more to learn. When developing Free Software, we should always be looking to the stars, so to speak. What limitations do we currently experience, and how can we overcome those limitations using the Free Software development model? There is always progress to be made; there is always the next level to achieve. > Cut to soccer player bouncing ball on knee in front of boy. We get further into the diversity of talent within the community. Everyone has something unique to bring into Free Software. Different people have different strengths, and some Free Software developers are absolutely amazing at what they do. > Cut to Professor Gates speaking to boy. > > Mr. Gates: Collecting data is only the first step toward > wisdom. But sharing data is the first step toward community. That's what it's all about, isn't it? Community. What gets shared is what enriches us. I am amused by the irony of Professor ``Gates'' saying this. :-) > Cut to side shot of poet speaking to boy. > > Poet: Poetry. There's not much glory in poetry, only achievement. Glory implies worldly praise from those around you. Some of the greatest works of art have gone unnoticed by the world until several centuries after the artist has passed away. Sometimes what you contribute to Free Software is not immediately noticed. Richard Stallman laid the foundation for GNU/Linux, but he does not get nearly as much glory as other members of the community who built on his philosophical and engineering foundations. A hundred years from now, however, something tells me that it's his name that will be in the history books. > Cut to overhead shot of boy. > > Voice: Knowledge amplification. What he learns, we all > learn. What he knows, we all benefit from. This is the most valuable property of Free Software. Since the code is open for all to study, we all benefit from the contributions made by others. If someone comes up with a novel way of scheduling processes across a grid of computers, and he contributes it to the kernel, then everyone can study the implementation and learn from it. As a result, we all understand exactly how it works, and we all benefit. > Cut to side shot of Sylvia Nasar speaking to boy. > > Ms. Nasar: One little thing can solve an incredibly complex problem. Computer systems present many *very* complex problems. The more people we get involved in trying to solve those problems, the more likely it is that someone will take his unique perspective and experiences to produce an elegant solution. > Cut to frontal shot of Penny Marshall speaking to boy. > > Ms. Marshall: Everything's about timing kid. The Internet was the great catalyst of the Free Software development model. We had to wait until the Internet hit critical mass before we started seeing the Free Software movement grow on an exponential scale. The future is open; contribute, and be patient. > Cut to side shot of businessman speaking to boy. > > CEO: This is business. Faster. Better. Cheaper. Constant > improvement. GNU/Linux is very compatible with business. Business is, after all, people offering their time, talents, and products to others in exchange for their time, talents, and products. If you can do your job faster, better, and cheaper, then you have more to offer people. They can get their jobs done with less money, which they can use to spend somewhere else. Everyone benefits because of it. Constant improvement. > Cut to camera panning overhead, then to Pilot speaking to boy. > > Pilot: So, you wanna fly, huh? Wind speed, thrust, its physics. The best principles of computer science and engineering find their way into Free Software. This is one of the first times in history that enterprise-class source code has been freely available to academia. Any student who wants to learn about filesystems, scheduling, memory management, GUI's, networking, or any other subject need only browse lxr.linux.no to get a complete picture of exactly how it can be done in a real production-class operating system. > Latin Teacher: Res publica non dominetur. "The republic will not be dominated," or, "The republic must not be dominated." This has roots in the concept espoused by ``The Cathedral and the Bazaar.'' Free Software is not a tyranny. Nobody stands on high, dictating mandates to the hapless underlings who busily go about as they are told. Free Software is formed on the principle of popular consent. Ideas (and code) must be presented to a forum, and the members of the forum must agree that what is presented is best for the project and for the community. If the project maintainers go against the will of the majority, then the project is forked and the majority goes with it. Software developers at IBM have to tango with everyone else in the community. There is no magical property of patches that come from the Linux Technology Center that makes them any more likely to be accepted; we have to live up to Free Software standards. The code has to be clean, extensible, and well documented; the implementation has to be efficient. The quality has to be top-notch. And the concept has to make sense in the context of the rest of the project. In the end, the will of the people will win out. If people demand a Free Software community, it will exist, and it will persevere. > Cut to plumber speaking to boy. > > Plumber: Plumbing, its all about the tools. Back to the ``tool'' theme... > Cut to Muhammad Ali. > > Ali: Speak your mind. Don't back down. Wherever you have change, wherever you have progress, you will naturally have opposition. The Free Software movement threatens those who do not understand it or cannot adapt to it. The community must not be bullied by those who would try to destroy it. Be vocal about your support of Free Software and stand firm in its principles. > Cut to camera panning over boys head into white. > > Female Voice: Does he have a name? > > Male Voice: His name is Linux. > > Titles: LINUX > THE FUTURE IS OPEN > IBM Hoarding makes for a weaker economy and a poorer society. All boats rise with the tide - human knowledge and inspiration must be shared to be of value to us. Free Software provides an ideal mechanism for doing so. Mike The opinions expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of my employer. .___________________________________________________________________. Michael A. Halcrow Security Software Engineer, IBM Linux Technology Center GnuPG Fingerprint: 05B5 08A8 713A 64C1 D35D 2371 2D3C FDDA 3EB6 601D "To prohibit sharing software is to cut the bonds of society." - Richard Stallman
pgp00000.pgp
Description: PGP signature
____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
