Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 21:09:34 +0200 (EET) From: Narvi <narvi@haldjas.folklore.ee> To: Robert Watson <rwatson@freebsd.org> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: RE: Where is FreeBSD going? Message-ID: <20040107162456.A32387-100000@haldjas.folklore.ee> In-Reply-To: <Pine.NEB.3.96L.1040106164719.87887h-100000@fledge.watson.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Tue, 6 Jan 2004, Robert Watson wrote: > > On Tue, 6 Jan 2004, Narvi wrote: > > > On Tue, 6 Jan 2004, Robert Watson wrote: > > > > > On Tue, 6 Jan 2004, David Schwartz wrote: > > > > > > > FreeBSD does need more advocacy if it wants to get the kind of > > > > visibility and credibility that Linux has in the public perception. > > > > Frankly, I'm kind of baffled that it doesn't. I've always found the two > > > > OSes more or less interchangeable and tend to install whichever one > > > > whose CD I can find first. > > > > > > The best advocacy FreeBSD can get is to have happy users explain to the > > > rest of the world how much they like our cool aid. Or rather, one of the > > > greatest contributions end-users can make to FreeBSD is to tell their > > > friends (and then help them get up and going :-). It's also one of the > > > greatest compliments you can give. Developers are typically fairly bad at > > > advocacy, and perhaps it's better that the developers work on what they're > > > good at (since it always seems a few more hands can help). So if you (in > > > the general sense, not you specifically) like FreeBSD, and feel like > > > documentation or code aren't your fortes, go out and give a talk at your > > > local Linux user group about FreeBSD. Or explain to the people at your > > > company that they could go out and buy Windows, Solaris, or Linux with > > > support, or they could rely on your own expertise in-house and get the job > > > done at a fraction of the cost. > > > > i'm not quite sure this is a replacement for a postgersql / gnome / > > openoffice style marketing team though. > > Agreed. It's just a starting point, but one particular benefit of it as a > starting point is that it would bring to people's attention the people > who's contributions to advocacy are most effective, as well as build a > base of marketing materials and volunteers. > > High on my wish list of marketing materials are some 2-page "white papers" > on deploying FreeBSD. Particular, short 2-pagers on FreeBSD as a network > appliance or storage appliance base, as a firewall, and as a database > server. Nicely laid out, business-like, and appropriate for distribution > as PDF or on paper at conferences. I think a starting point should probably be "generic" 2- and 4-pagers that give information about freebsd. The 4-pager could go into more depth as to what exactly 5.x has technology and benefits wise. It will also need to be targeted at an audience - what you want to tell ISV / white box maker / PHB / embedded developer / sysadmin / wannabe hacker / etc (not saying all should be covered or covered from start) would be necessarily different, possibly quite a lot. The non-generic, application specific 2-pagers would then be sort of companions to the 4-pager I guess to showcase a specific application. Or something like that - this is not meant as gospel, just thinking out loud. I do probably have time to spend on this, provided there are others, as there is no way I can spend so much on it to go alone. > > Another thing I'd like to see is a retrofit on the "Power to server" > brand, which I think was one of our more effective slogans. A nice logo > and slogan can go a long way, because people stick them on everything. One > of the ideas I've been poking at is moving to a logo that slightly > deemphasizes the Daemon, and instead connotes "power and reliability" -- > perhaps some sort of train-based logo. Something like: > > F r e e B S D > [train in motion logo] > The Power to Serve Looks ok. Traditionaly, the "lets have a contest" thing around such has given quite bad results (rather, usualy none) - going back all the way to 96/97. Having an art crew is probably a very tough. Or maybe i'm mistaken - the FreeBSD/gnome splash screen is quite nice.I can't personaly draw at all. > > Robert N M Watson FreeBSD Core Team, TrustedBSD Projects > robert@fledge.watson.org Senior Research Scientist, McAfee Research >
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20040107162456.A32387-100000>