Taking Linux advocacy to the "mainstream" tech press

[Patrick]

Pat, you might want to put this on a mailing list or something. If the screener is tipped off on this page, then nobody gets through.

You really think so? I don't think we get a ton of people on the forum. We get more people downloading episodes off the main show site.

[shopRatt]

/me == not very trusting of people in general

I hope some ball-bag doesn't though.

[ken_fallon]

Hi Pat,

A mass call in is a very bad idea as it will be perceived as nothing more than a stunt. The 'twit army' is very protective or Leo and what he says influences decisions of many IT people. In my work there are several people that follow Twit and a outright assault would reflect very badly on Linux and throw out all the pro Linux work I've been doing for the last few years.

First of all if you have not done so already email Randal Schwartz's and cc Leo about the "I don't run Linux on anything important" comment that Randal made on TWiT 146: Service Unavailable. A mass of emails here *IS* appropriate here. We are outraged and we will NOT stand for it.
http://www.stonehenge.com/contact.html info@stonehenge.com
http://leoville.com/contact/ leo@leoville.com

I want nothing to do with an 'attack' on Leo's Radio Show. I am however 100% behind a campaign to promote Linux on the Twit and other places. I suggest that we do 'target' the twit network but use the slow and steady approach. If 50 poeple do a ddos of Twit it may make the news in a bad way but if 2 or 3 people call every show - CONSISTENTLY - over the period of a year or more, this will get the attention of advertisers.

On his mainstream shows Linux rarely gets a word in and I know why. We simply do not make our voice heard like the MAC users do. We are seen as an audience that do not have money to spend. I challenge that ! As I said in the HPR episode ep0115 :: Promoting Linux, we need to show that Linux people have money and often we make decisions on LOTS of money. We buy hardware, we buy support contracts, we buy printers, we use firefox.

A little background on Leo the presenter. I don't know if you've noticed but Leo changes his persona on every show he does. On Windows Weekly he plays the suffering PC user, on MacBreak he's the Mac dude, on FLOSS weekly he's the open source underdog etc. This makes him a great presenter because HE is representing the audience ie. YOU when talking to the presenters. He is so good at this you probably don't even notice it. He reflects his audience and our job is to convince him that his audience also includes Linux users.

@Pat: I have made some changes to the Wiki that reflects this and I would appreciate it if you would review the changes and if you agree delete the section I've changed.

[hellonorman]

Hi Pat,
First of all if you have not done so already email Randal Schwartz's and cc Leo about the "I don't run Linux on anything important" comment that Randal made on TWiT 146: Service Unavailable. A mass of emails here *IS* appropriate here. We are outraged and we will NOT stand for it.

I don't recall this comment do you have a rough time estimate as to when it was said in the show?

[ken_fallon]

Sorry no - I'll check
[EDIT]

TWiT 146: Service Unavailable
Original Link: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3 ... T0146H.mp3
Position: 1:02:06 - 1:02:20

Leo Laporte: Lets starts with the Hans Reiser story since since obviously since Mr. Schwartz, is taking great ride....Did you ever know Hans Reiser ?
Randal Schwartz: I didn't. I've actually not met him, not exchanged e-mail with him, I don't even . . . [Leo cuts in]
Leo Laporte: He's a Linux programmer who wrote the Reiser FS which is a .... [Randal cuts in]
Randal Schwartz: I don't even run Linux on anything that matters, so it doesn't matter to me.
Leo Laporte: But the Reiser FS was the first . . .
The Clip Exert: http://www.eurocow.com/TWiT0146H-Randal ... atters.mp3
[/EDIT]

[Tsuroerusu]

How about this idea? For the first 15 callers we'll be honest about our Linux topics to gauge to see what percentage Leo and company let on the air. If less than 3/15 make it on the air we go guerrilla on him and lie to the call screener. What do you think about that proposal?

That would be better, because the first part would be research, to see whether Leo has a "geek filter" that only lets inexperienced computer users ask questions. If he does, well, yeah, go guerrilla on them!

Pat, you might want to put this on a mailing list or something. If the screener is tipped off on this page, then nobody gets through.

Or create a forum on this TLLTS board, that is password protected or something.

Sorry no - I'll check
[EDIT]

TWiT 146: Service Unavailable
Original Link: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3 ... T0146H.mp3
Position: 1:02:06 - 1:02:20

Leo Laporte: Lets starts with the Hans Reiser story since since obviously since Mr. Schwartz, is taking great ride....Did you ever know Hans Reiser ?
Randal Schwartz: I didn't. I've actually not met him, not exchanged e-mail with him, I don't even . . . [Leo cuts in]
Leo Laporte: He's a Linux programmer who wrote the Reiser FS which is a .... [Randal cuts in]
Randal Schwartz: I don't even run Linux on anything that matters, so it doesn't matter to me.
Leo Laporte: But the Reiser FS was the first . . .
The Clip Exert: http://www.eurocow.com/TWiT0146H-Randal ... atters.mp3
[/EDIT]

Randal is finally showing his true colors. Doesn't surprise me at all, that such a statement would come from him. The guy is a ginormous Mac w****!!! One thing I have noticed about FLOSS Quarterly, is that they only talk about open source related stuff that runs on Mac OS X. I think Leo only had something related to desktop Linux on once, and that was when he had Miguel de Icaza on (When Chris DiBona still did the show) like two years ago. Sure, free and open source software is a lot more than just Linux, but come freaking on! How many times do we have to hear about some new programming language, or some crappy Perl module, some stupid "geek cruise" or what-the-heck-ever! And boy, when they talk about some development tool, Mr. Schwartz is quick to point out how great it runs on Mac OS X, and what "wonderful" things he can do with XYZ.

The thing that kills me is that so many people (sheep, in my opinion) see Leo as a mentor or something, and thinks that he likes open source. What Leo really likes is fantasizing about Steve Jobs, or say the Apple Creed (Use the search feature on my blog, if you want to know what I mean by "the Apple Creed"). UGH, makes me sick to me stomach!

[weex]

If this is supposed to be some kind of secret guerilla action, we're going about it in the stupidest way possible. Planning and brainstorming on a more or less public forum...I agree with the previous poster that this is a stunt and even though there's no such thing as bad publicity, it's a bit childish.

I think we're better off writing emails directly to the writers and editors in the mainstream press stressing that the companies who advertise and pay their bills in the future will be free software based. Rather than a stunt it would just help to ignite a spark of software freedom in the minds of those who already have a voice. Maybe we can write a form letter of sorts or perhaps there's one already available that can be tweaked for our purposes.

[Patrick]

If this is supposed to be some kind of secret guerrilla action, we're going about it in the stupidest way possible. Planning and brainstorming on a more or less public forum...I agree with the previous poster that this is a stunt and even though there's no such thing as bad publicity, it's a bit childish.

It's not some secret guerrilla action. If it were a secret then why would I talk about it on last night's show or blog about it where thousands of people have heard/read it. I don't know about the rest of you but all this vitriol against Linux lately is pretty frustrating. Especially by so-called main stream tech journalists types who are supposedly enlightened. You snap enough at people on a regular basis they may bite back at you at some point. Ken proposes only a couple of people per show. Honestly I don't think that's enough. Maybe 5 would be more appropriate. Noticeable but not overwhelming. Again I don't have nothing against Leo but I can't say the same about some of his lackeys. Everyone's entitled to an opinion but just don't be a total wanker about it.

[ken_fallon]

I think we're better off writing emails directly to the writers and editors in the mainstream press stressing that the companies who advertise and pay their bills in the future will be free software based. Rather than a stunt it would just help to ignite a spark of software freedom in the minds of those who already have a voice. Maybe we can write a form letter of sorts or perhaps there's one already available that can be tweaked for our purposes.

Yes this is the right approach. We can promote Linux from the ground up here in so many positive ways. We do not need to descend to militant action to achieve our goals.

[ken_fallon]

I don't about the rest of you but all this vitriol against Linux lately is pretty frustrating. Especially by so-called main stream tech journalists types who are supposedly enlightened.

He is running a business where his job is to act as a representative for his audience. He is obviously of the opinion that there are no Linux users listening or these comments would not be allowed to pass. So who's fault is that then ? How have YOU supported the Twit network ? Definitely not by supporting their main sponsor but have you donated some money ? Have you already called in and told him that you listen to his shows and that you are a Linux user ? If not then he has no responsibility to do anything for you. If you have donated go on the twit forum and make a post about this issue. If you have already emailed then email again saying you are unhappy about the Linux put downs.

Ken proposes only a couple of people per show. Honestly I don't think that's enough. Maybe 5 would be more appropriate. Noticeable but not overwhelming.

It would be far better not to be noticeable, in fact that should be the goal. Imagine for a moment you are thinking of advertising and you see a graph showing the amount of callers based on OS over a year. What we want to see is a small infrequent call rate for Linux growing slowly and steady over the year. In that scenario each call represents a precentage of the listening audience. So on a show if there are 10 calls 7 PC 2 Mac and 1 Linux the Linux audience is 10%. Sounds about right. Any abnormalities like a sudden spike for a week or two will be discounted as a publicity stunt and will be removed entirely. Meaning that genuine Linux callers will also be removed for this period effectively pushing the Linux audience to 0%.

[Patrick]

He is running a business where his job is to act as a representative for his audience. He is obviously of the opinion that there are no Linux users listening or these comments would not be allowed to pass. So who's fault is that then ? How have YOU supported the Twit network ? Definitely not by supporting their main sponsor but have you donated some money ? Have you already called in and told him that you listen to his shows and that you are a Linux user ? If not then he has no responsibility to do anything for you. If you have donated go on the twit forum and make a post about this issue. If you have already emailed then email again saying you are unhappy about the Linux put downs.

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.

It would be far better not to be noticeable, in fact that should be the goal. Imagine for a moment you are thinking of advertising and you see a graph showing the amount of callers based on OS over a year. What we want to see is a small infrequent call rate for Linux growing slowly and steady over the year. In that scenario each call represents a precentage of the listening audience. So on a show if there are 10 calls 7 PC 2 Mac and 1 Linux the Linux audience is 10%. Sounds about right. Any abnormalities like a sudden spike for a week or two will be discounted as a publicity stunt and will be removed entirely. Meaning that genuine Linux callers will also be removed for this period effectively pushing the Linux audience to 0%.

You make some valid points but I think we need more than 2 callers to make any noticeable impact. I propose 5 callers per show. That would be noticeable and not be overwhelming.

[ken_fallon]

The target sounds good but it's important to schedule it so that every show has 5 _different_ people are queued up to call. You wouldn't want any individual calling in more than say twice max three times per year. So you need between 170 and 260 unique people for the first year. Can you pull that off ? Doing 2 per show would need between 70 and 104. The idea would be that the more often you call then the more other Linux callers would come out of the woodwork.

Actually would it not be better start out calling into Computer America on their Linux Show who do dedicate a show to Linux and noone ever calls. It's only once a month and they are starved for callers. That's only 30 callers at a rate of 5 per show.

[weex]

I'm all for advocating linux but it might be better to create a page or site dedicated to the idea. Patrick, I know it can't be covert since it's on tllts and here but it still feels niche. Making it even more public by creating an official Linux marketing project would help add legitimacy.

As for more questions to use to call in, a whole series of questions can be written with interop in mind. For example, a week ago I had a friend come over who had Linux on his laptop(and it seemed pretty fast) but for some reason he couldn't connect to my Windows XP shared documents folder. do you have any recommendations on how to share files between them?

Or a friend of mine runs Linux and sent me a paper to print out that I couldn't open with word. Got a message about odf file type or something. Do you know how I can open this?

Per my previous post, I'm going to write the beginnings of a form letter which I'll post later.

Finally, I have created a script for an Ubuntu commercial(with parallel construction to the Airbiscuit's commercial) so if anyone's intersted in reading that I'll gladly post that as well.

[weex]

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.

[ken_fallon]

I'm all for advocating linux but it might be better to create a page or site dedicated to the idea. Patrick, I know it can't be covert since it's on tllts and here but it still feels niche. Making it even more public by creating an official Linux marketing project would help add legitimacy.

Can't help thinking there are porbably loads of sites already setup to do this. I suggest we use the Wiki PAt setup initially until we find a place to take it.

I've created a page for this project on the wiki:
http://tllts.org/wiki/index.php?n=Main. ... mTechPress

Please feel free to update it. The wiki password is "nospammers"

As for more questions to use to call in, a whole series of questions can be written with interop in mind. For example, a week ago I had a friend come over who had Linux on his laptop(and it seemed pretty fast) but for some reason he couldn't connect to my Windows XP shared documents folder. do you have any recommendations on how to share files between them?

Or a friend of mine runs Linux and sent me a paper to print out that I couldn't open with word. Got a message about odf file type or something. Do you know how I can open this?

Add them to the wiki page

Finally, I have created a script for an Ubuntu commercial(with parallel construction to the Airbiscuit's commercial) so if anyone's interested in reading that I'll gladly post that as well.

I'd like to hear it you can mail me at ken period fallon at the free email service from google.