Date: 13 Sep 2002 07:00:14 -0600 From: Joe Warner <rootman22@attbi.com> To: Michael Lucas <mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org> Cc: advocacy@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD PR Message-ID: <1031922015.340.13.camel@C595663-A.attbi.com> In-Reply-To: <20020911102109.A60294@blackhelicopters.org> References: <20020911102109.A60294@blackhelicopters.org>
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--=-WoivmyAgjldkKc7ge+F2 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I wholeheartedly agree with this but I can understand why the BSD community hasn't pursued PR as much as the Linux community. Historically, the Linux community has had more of a focus on profit than the BSD community and if you're trying to sell a product, you definitely need a PR team. In regards to PR, maybe Apple could do for FreeBSD what IBM has been doing for Linux? On Wed, 2002-09-11 at 08:21, Michael Lucas wrote: > Hello, >=20 > Once upon a time, we had an unofficial Public Relations person. This > person handled all things related to FreeBSD PR. That person has > since laid down most of his Project responsibilities and, while he's > still kicking around, he's no longer doing any public relations work. >=20 > I think we need to get a serious effort rolling on public relations > for FreeBSD. After some discussions with other assorted FreeBSD > folks, it seems that several others agree. >=20 > Some of our corporate sponsors do promote FreeBSD, and I for one > appreciate that. But Daemon News, FreeBSD Mall, or anyone else, > cannot speak for "The FreeBSD Project." Only we can do that. And we > can only do that if we become organized, develop a team and a charter, > and request the proper delegation of authority from the committer > body. >=20 > We no longer have anyone to answer questions such as "How many FreeBSD > users are there?" This is an important question. As a "FreeBSD Face > Man," I get asked it all the time. And I have to pull a number out of > the air. This is bad, because it gives the impression nobody knows > how many users there are. >=20 > Also, press releases are a fact of life in promotion. But the Project > no longer issues press releases, because we have no PR person. Heck, > *anything* is worth a press release. Fine-grained locking in the > network stack? KSE? Those represent a lot of work, and nifty > features, and we don't freaking *tell* anyone about them! Press > releases get covered in the press, which means articles in the press, > which means free promotion, coverage, and, ultimately, users. >=20 > Some teams do make announcements, mind you. For example, re@ does an > excellent job with their announcements on new releases. I'm curious > if they're distributed to "The Press," however. They might well be. > But we, as a Project, need to know if they are or not. >=20 > We could also use a set of FreeBSD presentations and scripts for these > presentations. I've been asked to speak about FreeBSD before, and > always had to whip out MagicPoint and cobble something up myself. > There are people out there who are much better at these things than I, > however. I would love to see, say, > /usr/ports/promotions/freebsd-embedded, that included a MagicPoint > slide show and a script for speakers to audiences interested in > FreeBSD's strengths in that particular area. (OK, a port is going too > far. But this presentation should be as easy to get and install as a > port.) Right now, to find a presentation to promote FreeBSD I have to > go to Google and find something someone else used. >=20 > What do you folks think? Do we need a PR team, or should I go back to > playing Freeciv? >=20 > =3D=3Dml >=20 > --=20 > Michael Lucas mwlucas@FreeBSD.org, mwlucas@BlackHelicopters.org > http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/q/Big_Scary_Daemons >=20 > Absolute BSD: http://www.AbsoluteBSD.com/ >=20 > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message --=20 Faith is the quality that enables you to eat blackberry jam on a picnic without looking to see whether the seeds move. --=-WoivmyAgjldkKc7ge+F2 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name=signature.asc Content-Description: This is a digitally signed message part -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQA9geFey8v4Vaw+EcoRAiVDAJ9IvTGpzFNDw8aCVp7RPBGqSn3AQwCgm4X+ kAbWfozCTIMbzvp8rpmYcEY= =has1 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --=-WoivmyAgjldkKc7ge+F2-- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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