Re: RFD: Debian advertising in LJ, elsewhere
On Sun, 23 May 1999, Chris Lawrence wrote:
**Cut [This is in danger of getting rather long]
>
> In any event, I wouldn't expect a penny from SPI for this
> project... just a few (or, better yet, a bunch of) Debian CD vendors
> pooling some resources to (a) give an in-kind contribution of free (to
> SPI and everyone else) PR to Debian and (b) give ourselves some
> publicity we simply couldn't afford to buy on our own.
>
GNU/Linux has a chain of developers, packers and vendors. With Debian the
first two are well covered. However, Debian, its technical excelence and
principles is not going to make much headway unless us vendors get into
gear in a cooperative way and do that unspeakable thing, marketing. We
are the interface between product (Debian) and the user (at least in the
initial stages).
We know better than most why people choose a particular distribution and
imho one of the major reasons is its low profile, and ads in places like
the LJ would help to correct this.
If we look at Red Hat we can see that they have taken marketing seriously
and so have the profile we don't. I do not see us as being in competition
with RH, we are both GNU/Linux and we would tend to have different niches
in the market, but we can learn from them.
As a New Zealander it is easy for me to say that I would not be in
competition with any others on this list, but I would suggest that all
Debian vendors have more to gain by cooperation than by going our own
separate ways. The discussion about this ad is a first step in developing
this cooperation.
Phil.
Philip Charles; 39a Paterson St., Abbotsford, New Zealand; +64 3 4882818
I sell Debian GNU/Linux CDs. See http://www.copyleft.co.nz
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