Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 19:40:41 +0000 (GMT) From: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> To: jkh@zippy.cdrom.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) Cc: brett@lariat.org, dwilde1@thuntek.net, wes@softweyr.com, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: O'Reilly article: Whence the Source: Untangling the Open Source/Free Software Debate Message-ID: <199903121940.MAA23571@usr01.primenet.com> In-Reply-To: <4352.921186024@zippy.cdrom.com> from "Jordan K. Hubbard" at Mar 11, 99 01:00:24 pm
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> > Only if FreeBSD is properly marketed will it achieve a significant
> > profile. I'd be delighted to start a marketing team. But will I
> > get support from Walnut Creek and TPTB?
>
> I think we're still looking for a marketing person who doesn't manage
> to offend quite so many people, to absolutely frank about it. You're
> quite effective at marketing, Brett, but your history at inspiring
> both love and hate has swung just a little too far in each direction
> and I sort of look at you as a Josef Goebbels - a highly effective
> speaker and good motivator but also an out-of-control time bomb that
> I don't want to be anywhere near when it goes off. :)
Jordan, FreeBSD needs Brett, and as many people like Brett as possible.
Guy Kawasaki says it far better than I, so I will let him say it for
me by excerpting his work:
Rules For Revolutionaries
Guy Kawasaki, Michele Moreno
Harper Collins Publisher's, Inc.
ISBN: 0-88730-996-8
Buy this book. Now. Before you even read these excerpts. Expense it.
It will be the best US$25 that your company has ever spent on product
evangelism and building channel pull for your product (or service).
PS: If you want to do clever marketing, build customer loyalty, and
stymie your opponents, also buy "Driving Your Competition Crazy".
PPS: Why are you still reading this, instead of buying the book?
PPPS: Unless, of course, you already bought them, and you're back,
in which case ignore the previous "PPS"; sorry about that...
Excerpted for educational purposes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
...
Part 1: Create Like a God
... a great product catalyzes string feelings: People either love it
or hate it, and there are few people in between. Great products are
emotive for two reasons:
o They enhance people's lives. They make people feel more
creative, productive, and happy. Thus, an emotional bond
develops between great product or services and people.
o They threaten some people's comfort level. An innovative,
superior product or service often causes turbulence in the
status quo of people's thinking, and small minds hate tur-
bulence.
This doesn't mean that when people hate your product or
service, you've got a winner. And it doesn't mean that you
should design a product or service that people will hate. But
you should strive to create something that some people will
love rather than something everyone will merely like. Believe
me, if you succeed, the haters will come, but the commitment
from the people who love your product will outweigh their
negativity.
...
Ignore naysayers
The defenders of the status quo will almost always tell you that
your idea won't work or that it's not necessary. After all, they
built the status quo, and you are now attacking them! Thus,
ignoring naysayers is necessary to create a revolution. Here is a
list of the major categories of people to ignore, and why:
[ why elided: buy the book already -- ed ]
Naysayer #1: Customers and market research
Naysayer #2: Critics and schmexperts
Naysayer #3: Your own company
Naysayer #4: The competition
...
Part 2: Command Like a King
Evangelism Frequently Asked Questions, Part II
...
Q. How can I tell if someone will be a good evangelist for my
product or cause?
A. "...Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."
The most important quality is that the person loves your prod-
uct and believes in it. This factor, more than educational back-
greound or work experience, will determine the person's suc-
cess as an evangelist. Thus, pick someone who loves your
product over someone who has a great background but no
passion for your product.
One additional thought about finding evangelists: The
best evangelists for a product will find you -- you don't
have to find them. The will hunt you down and try their
damnedest to get a job at your company.
Q. How can I determine if someone is at all open to my cause?
A. You'll see it in their eyes: They either get it or they don't. They
will also get it in the first five minutes or they'll never get it.
And if they don't get it right away, no matter how seemingly
important they are to the success of your product, move on to
greener pastures.
...
Q. How does an evangelist avoid looking like a fanatic?
A. This question is a frame, and I refuse to be framed. It pre-sup-
poses that looking like a fanatic is bad, so you want to avoid
it. It may not be. The definition of a fanatic is being "unrea-
sonably zealous."
I'm not advocating tying a white bandanna with a rising
sun on it around your head and strapping yourself into a
plane, but there are times and places to be unreasonably zeal-
ous. Status quo-perpetuating peaople, _nota bene_, may be right-
fully accused of being "unreasonably resistant to change."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you haven't bought the book, and are reading this because you are
not currently running (not walking) to the nearest bookstore... why?
Get off your butt and buy the book. That is all.
Terry Lambert
terry@lambert.org
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.
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