Slashdot Mirror
He's a Mac, He's a PC, But We're Linux!
davidmwilliams writes "Earlier this year the Linux Foundation launched a competition for budding writers, film makers and just general Linux enthusiasts to make their own grassroots advertisement to compete with Apple's highly-successful 'I'm a Mac' series of adverts. The winner has now been announced."
I watched a few of these videos and I'm going to admit that it's very tough to push an operating system in less than a minute. So that leaves you in the very department you don't want to be in--marketing.
I will congratulate Linux and the winning contestant on achieving what Apple did and Microsoft tried to. And that is simplify Linux down to an idea easy to grasp with no actual numbers or ideas surrounding it. Like the Mac ads, it's just "cool" to be a Mac. I like that they imply that to be Linux is to enjoy freedom but it's no more convincing to me than the Mac ads. I'm a Linux fanatic but I'm realistic.
I don't think Linux needs this kind of advertising. I would prefer the software to speak for itself--warts and all. I hope all the participants had fun and I also hope that this doesn't make an easy target for anti-Linux folks. The winning ad sidesteps some of Linux's difficult aspects (usability, third party support, etc.) and promotes its trump card. Linux is freedom.
My work here is dung.
I've been kinda surprised that with all the tech and science they throw around on that show, that they don't ever mention Linux.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
While that is a nicely produced ad, if its purpose is to promote linux use to the general public, it completely fails.
Nothing about it will grab their attention.
I especially love that you need flash to watch it off of youtube.
Okay, nobody get mad at me, I run my hosting business on CentOS and all my computers dual boot to Ubuntu. My six-year old son likes Ubuntu so much that he writes his name in that roundy Ubuntu lettering.
But when I mentally set the stage for this commercial, I imagine a little dwarf coming out and saying, "I'm Linux, do you guys know how to get my wireless card working? I'm having trouble printing. Why can't I play this damn DVD?"
Man, I hope I've got some karma to spare...
--I'm so big, my sig has its own sig.
-- See?
am glad it wasnt the "i, you, we are linux" ad... that one had me terrified that linux would inevitably pick up a phased plasma rifle in the 50 watt range and...well....try and find Sarah Connor.
Good people go to bed earlier.
It looks more like those microsoft ads, where they show white drawings on top of real life video.
what exactly is the winning video parodying? did you even bother to watch it before you came here to complain?
frog blast the vent core
And thus you have accomplished more than the average Slashdotter manages in a whole week.
He's a Mac, He's a PC, [and] We're Linux!
Can three operating systems from three different cultures get along in the same wacky network? Tune in this fall to NBC for _Broken Pipes_, the hilarious new sitcom from those nutty writers behind BSD and VMS!
Demanding constant attention will only lead to attention.
http://www.getgnash.org/
They must be hosting this on a [Insert Your Least Favorite Underpowered Device Here].
Seems to be on the Youtubes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWEIQIv8zvY&feature=player_embedded
I donno, not a horrible video, but I have trouble seeing how that's going to convince anyone to switch to the Linuxes. I think it's a bit to idealogical and lacking in the pragmatic. It could use some, "the advantages of Linux over PC's or Mac's are thus:"
Mod my comments down. It'll be fun.
Here's the old Linux ad by IBM. It's pretty cool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwL0G9wK8j4
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
Linux: Netcraft confirms that FreeBSD is dead.
Economy.
pause
Red ink flows like a river of blood.
Some classical music, crescendo
Linux
Less is more.
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
I will congratulate Linux and the winning contestant on achieving what Apple did and Microsoft tried to. And that is simplify Linux down to an idea easy to grasp with no actual numbers or ideas surrounding it. Like the Mac ads, it's just "cool" to be a Mac. I like that they imply that to be Linux is to enjoy freedom but it's no more convincing to me than the Mac ads. I'm a Linux fanatic but I'm realistic.
But, see, there's a big, big problem with the winning ad.
Unless you already know what Linux is, which many, many people do not, it is utterly meaningless.
I know it has become popular to make ads that don't really explain what they're for in recent times, but that only works if the brand they're advertising is already recognizable, at least among their target demographic. But The Great Unwashed Masses don't even know what Linux is yet. Knowing that "it's freedom" tells them nothing, and the cute little animated graphics don't give any indication that it's even something to do with a computer—yeah, the graphics themselves are sometimes clearly computer-related, but these days, what isn't?
When Linux is already as recognizable a name as Mac, iPod, Coke, or Nike, and everyone knows that "it's just another alternative to Mac or Windows," then we can make ads like this to push the "freedom" aspect of it.
But until then, this ad doesn't tell a non-geek anything...except that Linux is pretentious.
Dan Aris
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
The ad brings up the idea that Linux is about freedom. Does Linux follow through on that promise?
I started using Ubuntu in December (hand in my geek card, I know). I tried once before with Mandrake about 5 years ago and it was too much work (honestly) for a hobby OS.
How free are people under Linux? I understand that it's about freedom of information, but when I think about the other possibilities that I might want to have in terms of User Interface manipulation (like the ad seems to suggest) I begin to wonder. Is there an easy (non-code, maybe even scripting) way to change the look of the UI? Is the UI as easy, fun, and colorful as the ad seems to suggest? These may seem like dumb questions to some, but if Linux wants market share they need to build a brand and follow through on that brand promise.
About freedom and intuition in applications: When trying to play a DVD on my girlfriend's brand new Ubuntu build it was necessary to download 3 different media applications (settled on VLC, but even that had a fatal bug sometimes) and sift for a while through google just to install the correct libs. I understand that the DVD format isn't free, but getting everything to work correctly was a bit of a chore. THAT is not freedom. THAT is frustration to a new user. If I hadn't been there I know she would have ditched the OS and gone back to Windows. She even picked up an "Ubuntu for Dummies" book (which did not fully describe getting a DVD to play) so she's by no means lazy about learning Linux.
She doesn't use the computer for too much but shouldn't the bare basics work immediately?
"Basics" are different for everyone (Aha! Another chance to have Linux be about freedom!) so shouldn't there be an option to walk people through what tasks they might use the computer for, then show them to the new user and make it enjoyably interactive to CHOOSE those programs, with an option somewhere to try out and learn other programs?
It's about freedom AND communicating that freedom effectively, and I feel the Linux community would benefit greatly from taking the time to concentrate on that aspect. If Linux (whatever flavor) is really about freedom, then that gift of freedom from developers comes with responsibility. That is a responsibility to coherently express how and what the OS can do.
If there really are a lot of people taking Linux notebooks/netbooks/desktops back, don't you think they at least *tried* tinkering with the OS? To me that says that the initial impression Linux gives may not be a helpful one.
If Linux is trying to get new users, shouldn't the focus be on effectively presenting the OS to new users?
In short, the ad seems cool, but Linux should get that ad out there and they should find a way to follow through on what effectively seems to be Linux's biggest shortcoming.
-
why should i switch if there is ZERO incentive for me to use linux [...]
the thought of giving more money to redmond makes me want to puke
Well, it sounds like you have greater than zero incentive to me. Perhaps there are other reasons you will discover.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
Heh... typical of Linux though. Copying Mac or Windows, but years later, and not quite as good.
Like the rude AC, I re-iterate more politely:
The winning ad doesn't copy either the Apple or Microsoft campaign styles. It's actually pretty good, except for the fact that it doesn't at all make clear WHAT linux is, but it might make some people interested enough to google it.
The problem with marketing Linux, or at least *Linux* people marketing Linux, is that they seem to think that your typical layperson will place value in the same things that a technical Linux user does.
What we have here is an overly-vague advert that places emphasis on it being "free and open" and "choices." A typical end-user does not care about these things. They want a complete, integrated product that works. Free and open means little if nothing to these people.
Where people advocating the wider adoption of Linux truly fail is in realizing what people want, and instead trying to tell them what they want and what they should place value in. What makes Linux so great for some people is what makes it less adoptable for most. The real question is, does your desire for wider Linux adoption trump your desire for an loosely coupled OS with little integration and many choices?
Similes are like metaphors
Yeah, just like workspaces, man, totally rip off of Mac OS X's Spaces feature, and Windows' not yet existing equivalent!
Clicked pie.
It's okay if you're happy enough where you are. It sounds like you're used to a certain level of pain. Everyone's experience is unique.
For me, the math happens to run the other way. Here at work I'm forced to use Windows. I've been doing systems work for more than thirty years now, but fortunately it's almost never involved Microsoft products. The kinds of work I do have been in areas where Microsoft doesn't go, so it hasn't even been an option. When I switch to Windows it's endless irritation. Slow performance most of all, but everything, just everything is a little bit below par. My Linux systems are running on older hardware, never a problem, and easily eight or ten times more responsive.
So stay with Windows if you think it's faster and does what you need. After all, it's a free choice. Nobody is forcing you.
Parity: What to do when the weekend comes.
"Gnash is not ready for prime time and last I checked, didn't currently work with youtube. Supposedly swfdec does, if you compile the latest build..."
...and that's why "freedom" hasn't caught on with the general public.
You should probably actually watch the video, once it stops being slashdotted. Or go to Youtube.
The winner isn't anything that would be recognized as a I'm a Mac/I'm a PC commercial rip off, or anything like what Microsoft made either. I'm not sure why this is styled an "I'm Linux" contest in the first place, almost none of the videos had anything to do with that (The only one that was even close and worth mentioning was the "I'm Not Linux" video series).
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite (TM)
Linux did its spoof years ago.
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite (TM)
Since the Linux Foundation's site is getting hammered, here are links direct to youtube. I hope that I got the correct vids...feel free to correct me.
First place: What does it mean to be free
Second: The Origin
Third: Linux Pub
Other two finalists: The Future is Open
Challenges at the Office
A lot of people have been posting this. The ad doesn't tell you what Linux actually is, just that it's gives you freedom. But that's OK. That's actually what makes it a good ad. It focuses on a single concept. The problem is not the ad itself, it's those that are focusing on a single ad and not thinking about a wider marketing campaign. Unless the product is very self explanatory, you don't introduce something new with a single ad, you serve up multiple ads, possibly with an overall theme, each one highlighting something different about the product. To be simple, look at Apple's ads. Note that I use the plural form of ad. Each one talks about one thing. "Ease of use" is one ad. "No viruses" is another ad. "Interoperabilty" is another. They don't do this all in one ad, its impossible. Some of the entries tried to do this and it failed miserably. You only have thirty seconds to get your point across. Say too much and no one will get it.
So this is only the beginning of a campaign. It's the initial buzz creator. It gets people asking the questiong "what is this linux thing?". Some will go look it up, but they don't have to, because your next ads are coming out that go deeper. They use the same overall style, but instead of talking about freedom, they talk about security, or reliability, or open standards, or whatever. There's a lot of reasons Linux is great, but you have to pick only one reason per ad.
"It's not whether you win or lose, it's how drunk you get." -- H. J. Simpson
Yeah and that time Linux totally ripped off Vista's 'Aero' effects..
Since that wouldn't help me make a pretentious linux nerd joke.
The enemies of Democracy are
And yet... Linux and the thousands of other open source projects that make a usable desktop remain Free, while the others do not.
Even if I concede that open source clones of proprietary software are often inferior (which is certainly not a given), I'm ok with that given the benefits. If you *need* pivot tables in Excel or the bazillion features in Photoshop, then spend the money for your single license, possbily DRM'ed, binary-only product that can only be installed and run on a single OS a single hardware platform. More power to you! Isn't choice wonderful?
I, along with many others, choose cost-free software that affords us the freedom to copy it indefinitely, install it on whatever OS/hardware we have, and tweak and fiddle with it without fear of DMCA violations or SPA audits.
Your snide "not quite as good" remark totally ignores the benefits beyond technical features.
Method of processing duck feet
Most hardware compatibility? Try installing it on anything but an x86, then get back to me.
Why is it that every time someone posts a "linux not ready for desktop" comment, at least one person has to pipe up that they're using linux exclusively on the desktop?
That's about as helpful as saying, "Well, the bug doesn't happen on my machine."
Ok, but I'm not a driveling whiny developer enthusiast that needs to have the bazillion levels of freedom that you need to hack the bejeezus out of your computer. I'm a burger flipper, a tire guy, a mechanic, a professional, or a housewife and I just want the stuff to work. I don't want to have to make a stupid decision about which distribution I should download and I don't want to have to answer nine billion technical questions just to get it installed. Something I have never gotten from Linux. I want to have that feeling that there is a company that I can blame, I need to have the feeling that there is a group of people that may benefit from my purchase, and who can be called upon to support that product. I want a product not a cool concept (Apple delivers both). Grow up, Linux is as good or better technically than anything being sold but it isn't a product. It will never be a product as long as it is distributed by and has as many distributions as geeks writing it. Ubuntu is coming the closest to being a product and it's goals are commendable but it is not a mainstream desktop PRODUCT and never will be.
Just because it's free doesn't mean it is going to be good and just because it costs a lot of money doesn't mean that it's evil. The answer is in between those extremes just like everything else in life.
I'l probably get modded a 0 flame bait for this but it's still a valid statement!
Why bother
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Advertisements don't need to inform. Pay attention to the next few car commercials you see and notice how facts about the car are pretty light.
4096R/EF7BAFA6 79E1 DF98 D09D 898F 9A11 F6F0 DDDC 23FA EF7B AFA6
"I just want the stuff to work"
If all this stuff "just works" then why do I so regularly get requested by the "just works" customers to make something work that they can't get to work on their "just works" system?
I'm a burger flipper, a tire guy, a mechanic, a professional, or a housewife and I just want the stuff to work.
Please, seek help.
Contrast with Windows: Where are my drivers? Okay, installed.
I think you left out a few steps, like "What's the manufacturer's web site? Okay, where is their downloads page? Okay, what's the exact model number? Okay, what version of Windows am I using?"
Have you ever tried to call Microsoft or Apple with a question?
Were they able to help you? Or was it easier to post your question to google and find someone else who had the same problem and found a fix?
I have been a Mac, a Microsoft AND and OS2. NEVER has customer service EVER helped with my problems. I guess easy problems that are easily solved are all the help lines are capable of. If it is an easy problem, heck, I have an Internet connection, I know how to type, and I know how to read.
- I live the greatest adventure anyone could possibly desire. - Tosk the Hunted
Last I checked, gnash worked with youtube. I don't use it now because it doesn't handle all the flash crap that other people in the house want. Youtube is supported though.
Ok, but I'm not a driveling whiny developer enthusiast that needs to have the bazillion levels of freedom that you need to hack the bejeezus out of your computer. I'm a burger flipper, a tire guy, a mechanic, a professional, or a housewife and I just want the stuff to work.
In that case, the bazillion programs available for Windows shouldn't matter -- only the few you need to work. Additionally, the lack of a need for antivirus, and the ease of keeping your system up-to-date and secure, should appeal to you.
In fact, even a package manager and a distribution should benefit you, in the long run. Choosing software supported by the distro means it'll be maintained, likely forever and for free. Using a distro like Debian or Ubuntu, which has separate stable and unstable versions, means that as long as you're on the stable version, all of that software is known to work together -- no "dll hell", no other strange cases of one piece of software causing another to not work.
I don't want to have to make a stupid decision about which distribution I should download
That's why we say "Ubuntu" and move on.
and I don't want to have to answer nine billion technical questions just to get it installed.
I'm sure someone can verify it, but I don't think Ubuntu asks more questions than XP. If you're a professional, you solve this problem by getting it preinstalled.
I want to have that feeling that there is a company that I can blame,
That would be Dell, who is providing you service, if you followed the above option.
I need to have the feeling that there is a group of people that may benefit from my purchase,
That, I really don't get. Since it can be free, why would you need that? If you get it as a product, with someone to blame (the Dell option), then Dell and Canonical both benefit, and some portion of your money goes directly to improving Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is coming the closest to being a product and it's goals are commendable but it is not a mainstream desktop PRODUCT and never will be.
Why not? Putting PRODUCT in all caps (and bold) doesn't make it a valid point. Your actual points here, I think I've refuted.
Just because it's free doesn't mean it is going to be good and just because it costs a lot of money doesn't mean that it's evil.
This is true. However, the fact that it is free, in a truly level market economy, would mean that anything that costs money would have to come with a lot of added value.
As it is, the closest competitor, in the sense of something for which most software is compatible, might be Solaris (and other commercial Unices), but Solaris was recently open sourced -- Linux dominates that market. OS X might count, except their GUI is so proprietary that a truly native OS X app can't be much more easily ported to Linux than a Windows app can.
I'l probably get modded a 0 flame bait for this
I really hope mods stop falling for this tactic.
Hey, mods, I'm about to say something that people might not want to hear! Some people might mod me down for it! You'd better mod me up to compensate!
I'd have modded you overrated, but I actually have something to say.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!