[Linux-aus] "start anything you like" type commercials on telly?

[Glen Turner]

Jason King wrote:

> Why isn't linux getting ad time as well?

Hi Jason,

Microsoft are running the ads because they need to alter
people's perception of Microsoft.  Microsoft as young,
helping, connected with individuals, necessary for
a successful life and business.  In short, MS want to
regain the opinion that people held of them in the 1990s.

I think Linux's problems with people's perceptions are not
easily solved by advertising.  The notion that "it's too
hard" has some truth -- I run a special shell which counts
each time it is used when I need to make a sysadmin change
on our home PC.  Even though I go to lengths to use the GUI
on that machine I'm up to 700 over 12 months.

The notion that the community is ill tempered, short to the
point of rudeness, unwelcoming of women, and has litte
desire to help the clueless also has some truth.  Look no
further than this thread.

Ads saying one thing and jarring with reality are unlikely
to help.  You'll see MS ads cleverly avoiding the
"jarring with reality" issue by talking futures.


The effectiveness of TV advertising is at an all-time low.
Advertisers are looking at products like Linux as a models
for future advertising: online, viral and community marketing.

Seems a bit perverse to buck a trend which is working in
our favour.

The other point here is that people who run Linux don't
watch TV.  I've no survey to directly prove that.  We do
know from ABS time use survey that people who spend more
time on the net watch less TV. And we know from website
usage that Linux users spend more time on the net than
Windows users.  So the implication is there.


An interesting thought would be to make current Linux users
more effective viral marketers.  Without becoming Amway :-)

I wonder how far supplying t-shirts, posters and posties for
the side of computer monitors ("i shall not flame newbies")
would go???

Thanks for your interesting remarks,
Glen