Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 07:59:57 +0200 From: Michael Josefsson <mj@isy.liu.se> To: Arjan van Leeuwen <avleeuwen@piwebs.com> Cc: Michael Lucas <mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org>, advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD PR Message-ID: <084D7784-C6DE-11D6-B960-0003939BCCF2@isy.liu.se> In-Reply-To: <200209122109.39919.avleeuwen@piwebs.com>
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In the same vein I have for quite some time proposed that there should be centrally downloadable "official" posters and stuff for promoting FreeBSD at conventions, meetings etc. It would not be hard for some graphically gifted (I'm not:) guy to compose posters describing in _very_ general terms how FreeBSD can be used in many walks of life. I was thinking something along the lines of one poster for "FreeBSD as a webserver", "FreeBSD as the company fileserver", "FreeBSD as a firewall", etc, etc... Not necessarily - in fact probably not - a lot of text, just the slogan and some fancy artwork. I for one would like to have one on my door and several in the university labs. And I imagine they would make advocacy easier if they are released officially by the FreeBSD Team. Just my thoughts. /Micke On torsdag, september 12, 2002, at 09:09 , Arjan van Leeuwen wrote: > Hi, > > I'd love to see a PR team, and I'd love to be part of it too (if that's > possible). > > I work (part-time) for a company that tries to deploy FreeBSD in as many > situations as possible, but we often have to face the fact that none of > our > customers have ever heard of FreeBSD. This has its advantages - they > haven't > heard any bad things about it either - but definitely a lot of > disadvantages > too. The education needed to get people to understand what FreeBSD is > and > stands for surprises me time after time. > > More press coverage would help FreeBSD a great deal. The amount of web > space > and plain paper 'wasted' on Linux is just huge. Companies and > individuals > like that. Talk about Linux, they'll have at least some vague idea of > what > you're talking about, and they know it's good, because 'IBM uses it' > (or so > they've heard). > > We all know there's more to open source than just Linux, but 99.9% of > the > people who decide if they're going with an open source solution, and if > so > which one, do not. I'm not just talking about managers in companies, > but also > about a lot of system administrators, who just didn't had the chance to > hear > about FreeBSD. There's just too little information about it in the > press. > > Where are the rave reviews of FreeBSD 4.X that I expect to find on the > Net and > in computer magazines? They're nowhere to be found. Because no one > apparently > took the effort of sending the magazines and sites a CD-ROM > distribution and > a nice press release. > > With version 5 coming up, we have a great chance to get people to look > at > FreeBSD, and to get a lot of positive press. We'd be fools to let that > chance > pass by. > > We have to try to create a small hype around 5.0 - as you say, press > releases > are vital. Release as many of them as possible. Previews are too. Send > every > computer magazine, every website, no matter how small, every newspaper > you > know a copy of DP2 when it comes out, with some clear instructions on > how to > install it and what to do with it when they've done that. Tell them > about the > improvements since the last version, and about the advantages of FreeBSD > over, say, Linux. Let everyone know the rich history of BSD. It doesn't > matter if we get some bad coverage in the process. It doesn't matter if > some > dork at zdnet explains an exciting new feature the wrong way. We want > people > to get the big picture, and fast. > > If I can help, and I'd be glad to, please contact me. > > Arjan van Leeuwen > avleeuwen@piwebs.com > > On Wednesday 11 September 2002 16:21, Michael Lucas wrote: >> Hello, >> >> 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. >> >> 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. >> >> 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. >> >> 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. >> >> 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. >> >> 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. >> >> 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. >> >> What do you folks think? Do we need a PR team, or should I go back to >> playing Freeciv? >> >> ==ml > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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