12:57 p.m.
On Fri, 2006-03-24 at 09:38 +0100, Patrick Windt wrote:
Dear Mr/Mrs Dinkar
Mr... or just Tejas is Fine
First of all thank you for your swift and extraodinary detailed
reply.
I did know how the concept of free/open software and I know that
Fedora is not a commercial product. But this does not mean, I hope,
that the marketing department/list says; well it doesn't matter what
we do, people will like it or know it or not.
I'm simply interested in the doings, and not doings of marketing.
I would assume that the marketing department/list does have some
marketing specific goals? I would hardly think that this task is
thought of lightly.
See, here is where you missed it... The marketing department IS a group
of volunteers, and obviously, each person will have a different reason
for being part of the project.
On the whole, the marketing teams goal is clear: We need to give fedora
to as many people as possible. The key word here is *give*. We do not
ask any money for it, so in this respect, we aren't truly marketing.
I think the way Fedora's Marketing is this...
We try to make sure that Fedora is in the hands of as many people as
possible. After that, we are sure that the product will take care of
itself, so to speak.
However, there is another major difference. We also try to get other
people to actively contribute...
If you see the last slide of most of the talks on Fedora, it will be on
`How can I contribute back to the project`. As a coder, or as an
ambassador, or to write documentation, each is an important part.
So in the true sense, we aren't marketers, we are enthusiasts. However,
as you say, yes, we must have a goal... And our goal is to promote free
software, until the common man becomes more aware of it.
To Promote Free software in General, and Fedora in particular
We aim to remove the Fear, Uncertainty and Doubts that certain
proprietary vendors have created against the Free and Open Source World.
The above two are the goals of the Marketing initiative IMO.
The method we go about doing this is many
1) Speak at events world wide
2) Send DVDs to people who ask
3) Have install fests
4) Spread fedora on a more personal basis, to your friends
I think that above covers it. Please CC the list when replying, I know
I'm not the only guy with an opinion
However I do think it's odd to make the end-users the developers.
I
believe that fedora core has the big potential of beating windows in
the Operating Systems market, or is that an aspect that isn't
considered either?
Well, sort of.
We would really love to see more free software in the market. However,
(at least I) am not particularly fanatic about Fedora, I would really
like to see free software (be it Fedora, SuSE, FreeBSD, RHEL) dominating
the market.
Remember, that no matter which free software wins, all the others still
win.
Gja
Please enlighten me :)
Patrick
On 3/24/06, Tejas Dinkar <tejasdinkar(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hey all,
I'm responding directly to the original poster as well
As I am not "The Head of Marketing", I may be wrong, and don't
sue me if
I am spouting rot.
Dear Patrick,
Perhaps, before you attempt to understand how marketing in
Fedora works,
you should understand how Fedora, or any open source project
in the
world works.
The concept of Fedora is Freedom. This doesn't just mean that
you can
take our product and run away with it. It also means you can
modify our
product, redistribute it, for free, or even for a fee.
Consider this example:
Chef Super-Gja has generated a recipe for Vegetable Stew that
is
AWESOME!!!!
Chef Super-Gja decided he wants to help as many people as he
can with
his amazing Vegetable Stew.
so he starts producing 1000 Litres of Stew every day, and
giving it away
for no cost. He feels that his Stew is Free.
However, one day, his friend tells him that he is allergic to
the
carrots in the stew, and that many people have requested for
Stew
without carrots in it.
Now, Chef Super-Gja gets a great idea. Rather than giving away
just the
Stew, what he does is give away some stew, as well as the
RECIPE for the
stew. This way, if everyone has the recipe, then they are
allowed to
modify the soup, improve it, and customize it to their needs.
Pretty soon, his friend comes back. His friend has modified
the recipe,
and the following side note: by adding a spoon of butter to
the soup, it
will make the stew a lot thicker.
The Chef decides that this suggestion is so good, that he
includes it in
the original recipe for the soup.
Chef Super-Gja realizes that by giving out the recipe of the
soup, and
not just the soup itself, he has ensured that everyone has
access to his
soup, and that everyone can easily make it and improve it. By
doing
this, he has made an entire community of stew cookers, who are
all eager
to help improve the original recipe.
Also, Chef Super-Gja also has ensured that people will be
drinking his
soup, long after he has retired.
This is the way open source works. Here, software is the soup,
and the
source code (a text document from which software is made) is
compared to
the RECIPE of the soup.
Some companies, like Red Hat, do make money out of open
source. They
give out the `recipe` for their product. In doing so, they
will have a
large community behind them. This community will continuously
be sending
back improvements to Red Hat's soup, and will be in close
contact with
Red Hat. Not just the Marketing or Support teams, as happens
with most
companies. But the end user is in contact with the developers.
In fact
THE END USERS ARE THE DEVELOPERS.
Some products, like fedora are not commercial. They are
maintained
entirely by volunteers, so that it can benefit their neighbor.
Now as far as marketing goes.
Except for (perhaps) 5 of the ambassadors, none of us are Paid
to
Promote Fedora.
The rest of us, simply use Fedora. We love Fedora, and we want
to tell
people about it. We want to help spread the message that
Fedora
symbolizes. That message is the Following:
`Fedora Is Free! We want to use Free Software. Not free as in
Zero Cost.
Free as in Freedom.`
We are volunteers who help to promote an idea we believe in,
during our
Free time. We do not really expect to be rewarded in any way.
We are
doing it because we know it is the right thing to do.
For Further Reading on this Topic, I suggest you read this
essay:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/
Gja
On Thu, 2006-03-23 at 14:51 -0500, Alex Maier wrote:
> Dear mrs. Maier,
>
> So if I get this right, seeing that you are indeed head of
marketing,
> the fedora marketing team focusses their attention on
promotion. Is
> Fedora Core not adapted to fit the needs of it's members, by
lets say
> a broad survey, or is it estimated what the target audience
wants?
>
> Does the fedora marketing team have any firm strategic or
operational
> targets to obtain?
>
> I'm mostly interested in fedora's marketing strategy since
it is very
> much different from a regular company. It is indeed non
profitable and
> you do not have a tangible item.
>
> Friendly greetings,
>
> Patrick
>
>
> On 3/20/06, Alex Maier < lxmaier(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> > Dear Patrick,
> >
> > Thank you very much for your inquiry. I lead the
Ambassadors project,
> > and this is what I can speak for :)
> >
> > The Ambassadors project is a grass-roots initiative mostly
centered
> > around "getting the word out" to the people outside the
Fedora project
> > and also helping Fedora Project communicate with Fedora
and Linux
> > community.
> >
> > If you have any more questions, please feel free to get in
touch with
> > me or the entire Steering Committee (Famsco) for more
help.
> >
> > Thank you very much for your interest in Fedora,
> > Alex
> >
> > On 3/18/06, Patrick Windt <paddy.windt(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Dear mrs. Maier,
> > >
> > > As an international marketing student, I was wondering
in what aspects the
> > > marketing department of "fedora" is integrated in the
final product release.
> > > Or is the marketing of fedora solely based on "getting
the word out" ?
> > >
> > > I would love to get some insight in the marketing plan
of Fedora...
> > >
> > > --
> > > Kind regards,
> > >
> > > Patrick Windt
> > > paddy.windt(a)gmail.com
> >
> >
> > --
> > Check out the new content on Fedora Project page!
http://fedoraproject.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Patrick Windt
> paddy.windt(a)gmail.com
>
> --
> Check out the new content on Fedora Project page!
http://fedoraproject.org
>
> --
> Fedora-marketing-list mailing list
> Fedora-marketing-list(a)redhat.com
>
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-marketing-list
--
Kind regards,
Patrick Windt
paddy.windt(a)gmail.com