Taking Linux advocacy to the "mainstream" tech press

[ken_fallon]

Fwiw, here's my shot at a Linux/free software advocacy form letter. Feel free to mail or email it to anyone who seems to be towing the proprietary software party line or just unfamiliar with free software and in a position with an audience.

http://davidsterry.com/freeform.html

Any suggestions or corrections are welcome. It's licensed CC Attribution 3.0 USA.

A few things about the letter is that there is no clear message and the Attribution means we are forced to inform the recipient that it is a form letter. That said I'd like to get some marketing packs together so I think your idea is very good.

If anyone has a sites that have linux marketing stuff can you post it here and more important I'd like a list of arguments you've heard for not using Linux. Once we get a good long list we can prepare a retort for every one.

[Colin]

This is just a bad idea IMHO.
It seems more like a personal issue between Pat and Leo.

[weex]

Ken, it was my intent to make the letter freely available and didnt think about the attribution. Also didnt see a way to make a less restrictive license than that on cc.of but if you've got a tip, I'll make the change. I did send this to Leo's email.

I do think the message is clear but perhaps it could be clearer: please talk about free software to your audience.

Finally, there may be Linux marketing sites and projects but for some reason I can't find any of them. Please post the big ones.

[Tsuroerusu]

Ken, it was my intent to make the letter freely available and didnt think about the attribution. Also didnt see a way to make a less restrictive license than that on cc.of but if you've got a tip, I'll make the change.

You could put it in the public domain or just under something like the BSD license.

[weex]

Ok, it's licensed in the public domain now. Not that it's all that special but it's a start. In terms of GNU/Linux and free software marketing sites, this is what I came up with. None of these really speak to the unwashed but there is a lot to be seen on free software's strategies as they exist today:

Mostly a blog about marketing Linux - http://thetuxproject.com
OpenOffice.org's marketing page - http://marketing.openoffice.org/
Fedora's marketing page - http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing
Free Software Foundation campaigns - http://www.fsf.org/campaigns/
Ways to volunteer for FSF causes - http://www.fsf.org/volunteer/

I actually like the idea of creating a site like these but for GNU + Linux in general. Something with a more practical bent on getting free software as a concept into more people's heads.

Another thought I have is in marketing you have two avenues. There are people you know well enough to talk to about free software and then there's everyone else. For the people you know, find a way to work it in and eventually to try it out. This can turn into primary use.

For the others, there have to be ways to publicly get the message out. Stickers, flyers, posters and bundling the message with something else they want.

I know a fair number of people hang out in chat rooms to provide supportbut what if they could speed that up by using the phone? Political campaigns organize calling parties, provide scripts, and a list of people to call. Why couldn't this be done with free software? Something like a web form where users can request more info on how Linux can work for them. Then a volunteer logs in and gets their name and number and calls them up. Thoughts? Would any of you be volunteer callers?

[jturning]

I understand it's his livelihood. He claims he likes Linux and will talk about it. Well, let's call him and talk about Linux. For the most part I stopped listening to the shows on the TWIT network. Why should I pay to get insulted and put down on a weekly basis? Besides there's advertising on those shows. I think it's idiotic that you have to pay to read/post on the TWIT forum. It's not right. I have emailed Leo on this and have not received a response. I don't expect a response. I don't mind spending money on the right things. I have and will continue to buy commercial software/hardware that works on Linux. I have donated to projects that promote Linux. I DO spend money on Linux.

We should be honorable and NOT lie to his screeners. Besides, Leo is prepped on the calls and can't come up with all the answers off the top of his head. He probably has more than one technical support person to help him be so knowledgeable. They would quickly figure out a Linux assault and cut the calls with Leo going off on one of his long discussions he has prepped. Personally, I don't think Linux related calls would get through, as Leo and his technical people probably don't have the knowledge. It's a syndicated show with ad revenue to take into consideration as well. And if the calls did get through, the information would probably infuriate you more. Or it would be awkward that the caller knew more about the topic then Leo.

And I also think you give Leo too much credit. He's catering his shows to an audience to keep the money coming in or at least continue to build his little IP media empire. If he really cared about objectively covering technology, the shows would be better. And he locks the forums off to subscribers, so he doesn't care what you think if you're not giving him money. Even when he tries to talk about Linux and open source his guests cut him off.

To Leo's credit in the past, he did have Marcel Gagne on Call For Help. Of course the Linux segments were usually short and Marcel seemed rushed. If I'm bored at work I might listen to his shows for fun to observe what they think, but I listen to other things for better tech coverage. And in fairness, no where is it written Leo has to take up the fight of Linux and Free Software.

Bugz

[Colin]

I agree with jturning.
I think Leo doesn't really care. I don't too. You guys are taking this too personally.
There's so many podcasts out there, and some of them don't get the facts right. Face it there's a lot of junk out there. But just because I don't agree I don't go fussing around.
TLLTS can be used spread real information from real people.
Just do your thing. Life is just too short.

[allix]

Your right, we should spend less time criticising the windows and apple camp and focus on free and open source and that way more of our energy would be used practically. In fact when those two camps make a valid critique, we should respond positively. Take for instance the Should we call out the Apple lovers amongst our ranks? thread, as far as a easy to use video editor which a few posters pointed at , my response was protective of linux and not looking at the real situation.

There is a review of ubuntu from the bbc media which I think fairly highlights places that linux can improve.
The only issues were that skype is a cut down version , the drivers for his external webcam were not too easy to install and that his bank online services would not work.

I sensible reply would be. Skype have decided to make a cut-down version for linux which is out of our control.
All drivers should be included , there is no excuse not to include a driver, a less its binary only then some distros won't include it. The online banking is down to the bank making a neutral online service. The bank I am with just works on linux.

review : http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/ ... _blog.html

[Tsuroerusu]

All drivers should be included , there is no excuse not to include a driver, a less its binary only then some distros won't include it.

So let me get this straight, you're telling me you think not including a driver, that might be really crappy or buggy, causes lockups and shit, is unmaintained, is old and crusty code etc. etc. is no excuse, because "All drivers should be included , there is no excuse not to include a driver" ?

[terryloveuk]

OK, I'm probably late posting my response but having registered so I could comment I'm going to anyway.

I can understand the frustration at "mainstream" media where Linux is concerned but I think the original idea of telling the call screeners one thing and then talking Linux is a bad idea. It just gives those people who say Linux users are all anarchists, terrorists, crackers (hackers in the bad sense) and troublemakers something to point at and say "see? we told you". We should try and keep to the moral high ground, and we should not give people ammunition to use against us.

Besides, listening to Leo's twitlive.tv broadcasts you do pick up info like there's a 40 second delay once you get through to Leo so they can "lose" problem calls before they hit the air anyway.

I heard the Randal Schwartz comments as he made them, and he did have reasons, like he prefers Free BSD for servers because he trusts it's security more. Yes, he uses a Mac but then he needs/prefers the software on the Mac - which is fair, it's his choice. Personally I find his personality annoying and I'd personally probably leave any small venue where I was if he turned up because he's get on my nerves - but that's possibly as much me as him and he's as entitled to be a prat (American translation - probably jerk) as much as I am.

Leo's show is set up to answer the problems of his callers, and like it or not 90% or more of those people are going to be Windows and Mac users so I don't expect Linux to get much mention. I also don't expect him to recommend Linux to most of his callers, if they had the tech savvy to google most of them wouldn't be calling Leo so don't expect them to install Linux.

I do wish Leo had a Linux show because I think it would fill out his coverage, maybe not a weekly show, but once a month would do. Perhaps even, now he's live 5 hours a day 5 days a week, a "Linux Live" spot where those few Linux users who want help could call in. BUT, and it's a big BUT, I think he'd need someone with street cred in the Linux world to co-host. Anyone you know want to step forward or suggestions for candidates?

Try watching some of his twitlive.tv stuff, he publishes a calendar of when he's recording shows, between those times he's often chatting live with people on the Stickam chat or his IRC chat - it's not perfect way of contacting him but may be better than email which he must be swamped with.

Terry

PS. I am a dedicated Linux user myself. Since 2003 all my (working) PC's have had Linux as the main operating system, and since 2005 the only operating system. I do have one PC with Windows XP but that's broke and hasn't really worked since 2003 as the DVD drive, USB ports and the keyboard never really recovered from the mug of tea incident.

[terryloveuk]

... We should be honorable and NOT lie to his screeners. Besides, Leo is prepped on the calls and can't come up with all the answers off the top of his head. He probably has more than one technical support person to help him be so knowledgeable. They would quickly figure out a Linux assault and cut the calls with Leo going off on one of his long discussions he has prepped. Personally, I don't think Linux related calls would get through, as Leo and his technical people probably don't have the knowledge. It's a syndicated show with ad revenue to take into consideration as well. And if the calls did get through, the information would probably infuriate you more. Or it would be awkward that the caller knew more about the topic then Leo.
Bugz

Actually, if you watch his show being done (he broadcasts his side of the show via Stickam on his twitlive.tv page) you can see he does actually do it there and then and isn't prepped or have a tech support staff (except his IRC and Stickam chat room audience and his PC/google). He does the show from his own studio not the radio station, that's at the end of an ISDN line.

You're right I'm sure the station would catch the attempt at flooding and the 40 second delay before airing would give them a chance to chop the call before it was heard.

I don't believe Leo is a "Linux guy" but I don't think he's anti-Linux, he's about covering what everyone is using and, sadly for 90% of the population, that isn't Linux.

[allix]

So let me get this straight, you're telling me you think not including a driver, that might be really crappy or buggy, causes lockups and shit, is unmaintained, is old and crusty code etc. etc. is no excuse, because "All drivers should be included , there is no excuse not to include a driver" ?

I never mentioned anything about bad drivers, your just presuming
Remember the uvc I needed to get the webcam working on my laptop? fedora 8 did not include this driver , only way was to compile the source, for someone new to linux this is unacceptable. opensuse had included it for a long time before fedora decided to include it in a kernel update. That driver has been in development for ages and if opensuse can include it, no reason why fedora cannot.

If you take a cursory glance over any linux forum, they is always some hardware that someone cannot get working and quite often its because the distro have not included it. Nothing at all to do with QA of the driver, just nobody has packaged it.

[LinuxMint-4]

I'll throw my worthless 2 cents in here, I think if there is going to be a concerted effort to get Linux talked about do it positively. Don't just stop at Leo's show, there are many others like the Kim Komando show. But lets do it positively.

We can call in with a genuine Windows problem, say you are calling in to fix your brother in laws malware troubled computer...ask the question get the answer and comment that you don't have these problems because you use Linux.

Another way is to call in and comment on a previous answer and say something the answer helped you and say in Linux the problem was taken care of a certain way.

Another question is to ask is how to integrate Linux on your windows network. Maybe a general comment would be that you wish there were more freeware products for a certain application for Windows. Then add that in Linux everything is pretty much freeware.

Another question would be is to ask why you can't leave your Windows computer on continuously for more than a week or two. Then casually mention that you heard Linux machines can stay up for months at a time and if the host would recommend Linux instead.

In other words, ask a Windows question and then give a brief mention of Linux. Its still being honest and maybe the host won't even notice or care.

[weex]

We can call in with a genuine Windows problem, say you are calling in to fix your brother in laws malware troubled computer...

Nice questions...you should add them to the wiki page: http://tllts.org/wiki/index.php?n=Main. ... mTechPress

I also like the idea of being broader based about the effort. What if we came up with a public calendar of tech radio shows with a little background and a phone number on each?

[Tsuroerusu]

So let me get this straight, you're telling me you think not including a driver, that might be really crappy or buggy, causes lockups and shit, is unmaintained, is old and crusty code etc. etc. is no excuse, because "All drivers should be included , there is no excuse not to include a driver" ?

I never mentioned anything about bad drivers, your just presuming

No, but you generalized it to "drivers", which means both good and bad drivers.

Remember the uvc I needed to get the webcam working on my laptop? fedora 8 did not include this driver , only way was to compile the source, for someone new to linux this is unacceptable. opensuse had included it for a long time before fedora decided to include it in a kernel update. That driver has been in development for ages and if opensuse can include it, no reason why fedora cannot.

Sure, there's no reason why they could not, it's just that they had not. Fedora is not a distribution that intends to wipe the asses of incompetent Windows users for them, every step of the way. If you want something that does that (What a concept ...), you should probably look at something like Linspire or Xandros. If something is not included, and it does not look like anybody is interested in integrating it, freaking do it yourself, or quit bitching. I think it's ridiculous to bitch about distro X not doing A, which distro Y does, when it's not distro X's explicit goal to do A. That's like saying "Gee, Mercedes really sucks because their vehicles can't fly!", even though their goal is not to make airplanes, but cars.

If you take a cursory glance over any linux forum, they is always some hardware that someone cannot get working and quite often its because the distro have not included it.

That can vary QUITE a bit, from driver to driver. For example, with my laptop (ThinkPad X31) the WIP ath5k driver for the Atheros card works fine, however it has made some machines utilizing Atheros cards lock-up, so it's a double-edged sword including that one, it would be absolutely insane to include it in a distribution like RHEL.

Nothing at all to do with QA of the driver, just nobody has packaged it.

Indeed, so where's your package?