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Linux Foundation Asks Who Says "I'm Linux" Best
An anonymous reader writes "Everyone has seen Apple's clever 'I'm a Mac' ads, and Microsoft's attempted responses, first with Jerry Seinfeld, and next with 'I'm a PC.' The Linux Foundation tries to fire back with its community-generated 'We're Linux' video contest: all of the eligible videos have now been submitted and are ready to be voted on. Thankfully, the quality of Linux is much higher than the quality of some of these entries: entries range from the hilarious but inappropriate, to the well-made but creepy, to the 'I'm sure it sounded good in your head.' Thankfully, there are one or two that could actually be real commercials."
I find this situation to be a very fitting analogy to the computing world as a whole. Apple does something that gets attention. Microsoft makes their cheap knockoff of it. Then the OSS/Linux guys come along and say "Hey, we can do that, too!"
Isn't part of the point of linux that there isn't a face to it?
Linux is my mailserver
Linux runs my mythtv
Linux runs on my access point
Linux runs on my sister's laptop.
Linux runs on our company's DVR.
Linux is not an operating system for the desktop or for the server, or for the embedded device. Linux is an operating system for EVERYTHING.
Its like a ball of clay, endless potential and totally at the hands of the artist.
NewslilySocial News. No lolcats allowed.
You ever notice how nobody really talks about features the way you're describing? It's because that's basically nerd porn. Everyone else would just go "jesus, that's boring" and tune out.
This is something most of the Linux community doesn't get: People don't give a fuck about computers. It's like a car: the only time they care is when it isn't doing what they want it to.
And, right now, it's a lot easier to get a Linux machine to the isn't-doing-what-they-want-it-to point than a Windows machine. (If you have to mention WINE, you pretty much already failed. WINE is an admirable effort that requires a level of technical proficiency or at least willingness to Google to get a lot of stuff running well--neither of which are things end users will do.)
"You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
I was going to reply to him, but you seem to actually understand.
He has no clue about advertising. It has absolutely NOTHING (none, nada, nil, zip, zero, nuthin') to do with the product. It has everything to do with getting the viewer's attention, and keeping it for the 15 to 30 seconds that the ad runs, *AND* mixed in somewhere show the product.
Like, this would make a killer ad..
Show a jet fighter buzzing the surface of the ocean. It fires a missile. WOOSH! People like jet fighters. They like big explosions. The flash and the noise will get (or keep) them looking.
The camera follows the missile. You see the girls on the beach. It flys down a road with flashy cars. it buzzes some other flashy thing. Then you see it going straight into a building with a big Linux sign on it.
Big explosion. Dust settles (quickly, we're at like 20 seconds already), and the sign is still standing.
No words. No dialogue. Just music (optionally, but suggested), jet engine noise, rocket noise, and explosion noise.
People who want to sell their product always want to include all kinds of crap about their product. Consumers don't care. 99% of the people driving cars (like in your example) don't know anything about them. They can't tell you what engine it has. Half of them can't even tell you the model without going outside to look. Everyone can say if it's pretty or ugly. There are some people who are really into their cars (like me) who can run down every part in it accurately. Ads for my car had nothing to do with the features of the car.
Here was the short version (30 sec). It doesn't even say the name until the end. Lots of noise and effects.
This was the long promo video. Only the first 45 seconds showed up on TV, as I recall. Again, lots of noise and effects. Even I, a TransAm owner, didn't care to watch it past 1 minute, when they started babbling about the features.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.