[Fedora-ambassadors-list] Re: Inquiry - General marketing questions from a student of international business

Tejas Dinkar tejasdinkar at gmail.com
Sat Mar 25 19:22:07 UTC 2006


On Fri, 2006-03-24 at 22:24 +0100, Patrick Windt wrote:
> The license fees alone would make it beneficial.

Let us not forget the joy of helping one's neighbor

> The problem I currently see in the Open Source is that, on one hand
> you have a point that open source is about choices and everyone does
> marketing in his or her own way. But on the other hand the marketing
> efforts become so fragmented that it has lost a great deal of
> effectiveness. 

Cathedral/Bazaar... We are disorganized to some extend, but we spread
our message because we are united by our passion for OSS.

> May I ask whether you (plural) have had marketing education or
> experiences other than this? Not to mean disrespectful, just being
> curious. 

Well, I have no marketing education at all. And IMO, (not to be
disrespectful), that is probably my strong point. Traditional rules
don't always apply when you are working on FOSS

> I do want to contribute to spread of open source software, but I need
> to understand how others will benefit from it, which I am in the
> process of learning "these days". 

Great :)

> Very kind regards,
> 
> Patrick
> 
> 
> 
> On 3/24/06, Alex Maier <lxmaier at gmail.com> wrote: 
>         I will respond to some questions, as most of them were
>         answered by the
>         great post by Tejas. and BTW, no offense taken--direct
>         questions are 
>         the best!
>         
>         On 3/23/06, Patrick Windt <paddy.windt at gmail.com> wrote:
>         > I just feel fascinated by the task of marketeers in the
>         Fedora community.
>         > Although you are not a commercial distribution, I should
>         believe that even 
>         > the marketing department has some goals to obtain? For
>         example; get review
>         > in 5 magazines a month, or get so many registered fedora
>         users, or so many
>         > downloads....
>         
>         Nope, we do not have any set goals, and we do not have a
>         structure to 
>         enforce them. Whatever the community does, is great, and a
>         good thing
>         is that there are thousands of people out there who each
>         contribute
>         whatever little resources they can spare, and together we
>         achieve the
>         impact you see.
>         
>         > Finally, is the marketing "department" of the fedora
>         community in contact
>         > with the creators/developers?
>         
>         Yes, by all means. As we are not a commercial organization,
>         but a 
>         group of volunteers, many of us "moonlight" as developers or
>         vice
>         versa. We have email lists to which anyone can subscribe, such
>         as
>         fedora-marketing list, and on these lists everyone can submit
>         their
>         input.
>         
>         We also have a wiki, on which our projects and sub-projects
>         keep their
>         information for the whole world to review and comment on.
>         
>         This is how we ensure that information flows freely between
>         the
>         projects within Fedora, as well as between the project itself
>         and the 
>         rest of the world :)
>         
>         Now if I may ask you a question--in what project are you going
>         to use
>         the information about Fedora? Is there any way you might be
>         interested
>         in contributing?
>         
>         Thank you,
>         Alex 
>         
>         > On 3/23/06, Alex Maier <lxmaier at gmail.com> wrote:
>         > > Partick,
>         > >
>         > > Please visit http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Marketing/ for
>         > some
>         > > background information.
>         > >
>         > > Fedora is not a commercial distribution, so we do not
>         really have a
>         > > corporate strategy behind all our actions. Rather, we try
>         to draw 
>         > > attention to our projects and recruit more contributors.
>         > >
>         > > I have forwarded your request to fedora-marketing-list,
>         and the folks
>         > > there shall be in touch with you shortly with all sorts of
>         in-depth 
>         > > comments.
>         > >
>         > > I really do not feel like I am the only person who konws
>         all the truth
>         > > about Fedora Marketin, and this is why I asked them to
>         help me out :)
>         > >
>         > > If you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to
>         get in touch 
>         > > with me again--I will try to help as much as I can.
>         > >
>         > > Thank  you,
>         > > Alex
>         > >
>         > > On 3/20/06, Patrick Windt <paddy.windt at gmail.com> 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 at 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 at 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 at gmail.com
>         > > > >
>         > > > >
>         > > > > -- 
>         > > > > Check out the new content on Fedora Project page!
>         > http://fedoraproject.org
>         > > > >
>         > > >
>         > > >
>         > > > 
>         > > > --
>         > > >
>         > > > Kind regards,
>         > > >
>         > > > Patrick Windt
>         > > > paddy.windt at gmail.com
>         > >
>         > >
>         > > --
>         > > Check out the new content on Fedora Project page!
>         http://fedoraproject.org
>         > >
>         >
>         >
>         >
>         > --
>         >
>         > Kind regards, 
>         >
>         > Patrick Windt
>         >  paddy.windt at gmail.com
>         
>         
>         --
>         Check out the new content on Fedora Project page!
>         http://fedoraproject.org
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Patrick Windt
> paddy.windt at gmail.com




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