re: marketing: master or servant?
Craig Sanders wrote:
> bruce, i think you will find that this is the source of what is annoying
> so many people.
>
> ask any hacker about marketing's role and they will say something like
> "[mktg] should be subservient to tech." (note i've removed all the
> expletives). Most of us feel that marketing types are like a dangerous
> weapon - keep 'em unloaded and locked up in a cupboard, and only bring
> them out when you need them to do a job.
>
> the tail shouldn't wag the dog.
>
> You are trying to change the project from a tech-driven one to a
> marketing-driven one....that is anathema to most of us. is it any wonder
> that our reaction to that is similar to our reaction to MS etc? it
> smells like a tiny bit of the evil empire entering OUR project.
>
> yes, marketing does have it's uses. it makes a great servant. don't try
> to make it our master.
>
> to bring this back to your suggestion, a marketing group for debian
> *could* be a good thing. However, their role should be to look at all the
> cool things being done by the debian developers (and other free software
> projects) and figure out ways of marketing them that don't conflict with
> the hacker ethic. marketing shouldn't be telling tech what to do...they
> get away with that sort of behaviour in paid work, but they won't get away
> with it in a voluntary project like debian.
>
> craig
>
> PS: not all of us are as completely hopeless at marketing as you like to
> make out. some of us have a damn good understanding of how people tick
> and how to manipulate them using traditional (and non-trad.) marketing
> methods. there are even a few of us who don't find that too distasteful.
As a software developer who's taken more than a few marketing courses, I'm not
sure I agree. In its pure form, marketing helps bring a product (or service) to
market - hence the name.
But that doesn't mean that marketing always merely takes an existing product and
creates interesting ways to sell it. They can (and should) be involved in the
design process as well - in the *creation* of the product. So, they can help
bring a product from idea, through development, to market, then to customers.
Either technology is pushing this flow, or customers are pulling it. Ever try to
sell customers something they aren't convinced they need? It's hard. And it's
not good to sell a willing customer something you know is an inferior product.
I think meeting half-way is the best. One group has to create an excellent
product, and the other has to bring it to market successfully. They can work
together to achieve this.
--
SEGV - http://www.cgocable.net/~mlepage/
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