Forkable Linux Radio Ad Now On the Air In Texas

christian.einfeldt writes "Everyone is familiar with the Linux video ads created by IBM, Red Hat, and Novell, but until recently, there have not been any professionally backed forkable radio ads. Now, Austin-based Linux advocate Ken Starks has obtained the services of a professional radio talent in creating a high quality voice track, which can easily be adapted by local providers of Linux computer services. The raw material (mp3, ogg) addresses end-user frustration with Microsoft Windows malware, and promotes Linux as a more stable alternative. Starks hopes the raw material will seed pro-Linux ads across the US, and he offers his own final product as an example of how the raw material can be remixed with music. He has released all of the raw material and final work under the Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, and has waived the Attribution requirement in his blog. Starks's provocative ad is currently on the air in the Austin market during the popular talk show of Kim Komando, who just happens to be a Microsoft Windows enthusiast."

Comments

Komando's show is popular?

[BadAnalogyGuy]

As in "Windows popular" or "Linux popular"?

I listened once. It was an hour of "Kim, I'm having trouble installing my Canon digicam." "Well, you need to attach the cable and then turn the camera on." "Thanks Kim! That really did the trick!"

Trying to explain anything more complex than "Have you tried rebooting it?" to the audience of AM talk radio is like declaring any year Year of Linux on the Desktop.

Re:Komando's show is popular?

[rantingkitten]

To be fair the majority of her calls aren't about fixing problems -- which I would actually find somewhat interesting. Most calls seem to be "Kim, I want to buy my daughter a new digital camera, what kind should I buy?" and "Kim, my husband wants an mp3 player, should I get an iPod or one of the others?" with the occasional "Kim, I wiped out all my data like a tool, and don't keep backups, is there any hope?" (Her answer is usually "Shoulda used Carbonite.")

Anyway, it's a mildly interesting show to listen to if you're driving around or whatever. What bugs me is her weird insistance with Microsoft. In and of itself that isn't a problem -- the problem is that she glosses over alternatives without explaining why. It comes up a lot when the question is "Kim, I hear these netbook things are neat, what kind should I get?" and she'll talk about them, but conclude with "And you'll have two choices, Windows or Linux. Get the Windows one." That's it. Many of her listeners probably think Linux is complete trash because the radio expert says not to use it.

I suspect Microsoft is one of her sponsors (I'm too lazy to check) so from a business angle it makes sense. And the kind of person who needs to call a radio show to get advice about computers and cameras probably should stick with the point-and-drool quagmire that is Windows. Still, I find it irritating.

Re:Komando's show is popular?

[smaddox]

To be fair, most of the netbook preinstalled distro's are complete trash.

Transcript

[Animaether]

Your computer has problems? Wanna hear the "industry's" solution? That's right, your software isn't working - so what do they suggest? Use more software to solve the problem(!) Listen to what you're being told: they want you to purchase software so the software you already purchased will work! .. What!?
The problem is.. we've come to think of this as being perfectly acceptable. So stop accepting! There's been a solution all along, but you've rarely heard of it. That's right! You spent maybe hundreds maybe thousands of dollars over the years that you didn't have to.
It's time for the secret to be told. Thousands of businesses, universities and even Wall Street have been using: Linux! For years. What do they know that you don't? Linux is free. It doesn't need any virus protection and 99.9% of the software you'll ever need comes free as well. It's as easy as clicking a mouse! That's it. No more crashes, no more viruses, no more blue screens of death.
And get this: with Linux, you don't have to reboot after installing new software. Linux runs on old hardware. No need to buy a new computer every time the industry decides to boost profits and release another buggy system.
So why are you still paying for the privilege of using your computer? There's a better way: Linux.

Somehow the flow between the 2nd and 3rd sentence is... odd, but there ya go.

Re:Transcript

[Hymer]

"In place of BSODs, you just get to meet mister kernel panic instead."
Much less freq... I've used OpenSuSE (as a desktop OS) for the past 5 years and never seen the kernel panic.

Heard this on the air last night

[XanC]

It was more about control, about Microsoft being in charge of how you get to your data, than about anything else. It's a great message.

Although I can't listen to more than 5 minutes of Kim Komando without wishing my fingernails were being pulled out instead.

Re:"forkable ad"?

[tagno25]

it is an ad that is forkable

ad: a public promotion of some product or service
fork: In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a copy of source code from one software package and start independent ...

Re:"forkable ad"?

[Tweenk]

Forkable = you can fork it (create a modified version without asking the original creator)
So it means you can make your own Linux radio ad using parts of this one. Normal ads are 'unforkable' by design (because they include trademarks) and by circumstance (you have no permission to reuse the ad's content). This news means that if you want to market Linux, you no longer need to shell out money to create the advertising material, you pay only for air time.

Re:"forkable ad"?

[annodomini]

"Fork" is a term in software, particularly free software, that means creating and releasing your own version of something, without merging it back upstream with the original author. This is one of the fundamental freedoms that free software gives you; the freedom to fork it if you don't like how the original author is developing it.

Re:Just a minor point...

[Anonymous Coward]

Deeper down.

Re:Just a minor point...

[Darkness404]

Other than RPM vs DEB and APT vs YUM, they run identical software.

Varying Definitions Of "Professional"

[FSWKU]

...has obtained the services of a professional radio talent

The voice sounds professional, yes. However, the audio quality on the raw material is lacking. The reverb is VERY over the top, and is not necessary. A dry voice track should not sound like it's coming out of an echo chamber, because reverb can easily be added later in the style and amount you want. Also, would it have really hurt to have the voice talent be a bit further from the mic? At the very least, run the damned track through a de-essing filter to kill off some of the harshness. The sibilance was bordering on painful everytime a word had an S in it. Echo shouldn't be a problem if you're using a proper studio.

I mention this, because if the production of the dry track isn't up to par, then anything you finish it with won't be. And if they REALLY want people to take Linux seriously, whatever ads are made with this stuff needs to sound every bit as professional as something coming out of a major corporation.

IAAVOA (I Am a Voice-Over Artist), btw.

Re:Just a minor point...

[flydpnkrtn]

Oh come, on it depends on how far "deep down" you go.... you go "far enough down" and both distros are running on a Linux kernel with a GNU userland.

(ok, ok for the pedantic folks - unless you're running a Debian GNU/HURD kernel, or Debian with a Solaris kernel...)