[Linux-aus] Marketing Linux

[Janet Hawtin]

linuxaus.1.tracyanne at spamgourmet.com wrote:

> I'm not some L33t G33k like the rest of you, I can't write kernel code, or scare 
> up some perl script, or even half decent PHP. So I do what I can.
> 
> Mostly I just tell people about Linux, about how good it is as a Desktop computer. 
> I write about it on social network sites mostly, and have managed to get a number 
> of people to give it a try, but I don't see Linux becoming ubiquitous anytime soon 
> that way - "world domination one desktop at a time" - won't see Linux on very many 
> desktops in my lifetime. This it is the first time I've spent any serious time 
> on a mailing list, I don't as a rule because people on Mailing lists tend to 
> discuss stuff I find quite boring.

Hi Tracy Anne

I think you can understand why people would be interested in the backgrounds of 
people who are soliciting large swathes of cash from a community.
I have had a look for your postings to community sites but have only found a 
Tracy Anne Barlow contributing as a gold member of the .Net community as a VB 
coder and using spamgourmet on mono development lists.

I have to agree with others that the overall impression does not build my 
confidence as spamgourmet is used as an anonymiser and the references I can find 
of Helios include other situations where someone by that name has asked the 
Linux community for funds because they were sick, and because a friend was out 
of work, both requests going to the same paypal account.

$350k US is a truckload of money.
And it seems we are not the first people to be sceptical.
http://penguinpetes.com/b2evo/index.php?p=292&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/85803/index.html

Personally the structure of the approach whereby the idea is posited
by someone anonymous who apparently has convinced a car team of support
of a community which they have not secured is *not* the kind of relationship I 
would want to enter in under any circumstances because that would
in effect be supporting an approach which feels more like pain centred marketing 
than anything that a group of volunteers would wish on each other.

I went to an event this week where some of the participants were discussing new 
'destructive marketing' strategies which has given me pause for thought. Whether 
the intent is above board or not the approach is disconcerting to say the least.

Janet