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Linus Puts Shields Up
wesmills writes "ZDNet, that fine purvayor of well-balanced, highly informative Linux stories (BS mode OFF) has written a piece complaining that Linus isn't as accessible as he used to be. You wouldn't answer the phone, either, if you had 1000s of journalists asking the same question all day, every day, would you? " I'm in an odd position: As a pseudo journalist I sometimes need to get ahold of people in that capacity, but I also have to deal regularly with media types who just want a lame quote for their article. After you answer the same questions time and time again, it gets amazingly tedious (And I've been known to tell reporters to read the FAQ too ;) I'm amazed Linus lasted this long. I hope that the levels of protection he's put in place give him some well deserved privacy.
If you read the article (unlike almost every single person that posted a 'talkback' on zdnet), you will see that the author isn't bashing Linus for this. He's just stating the fact that Linus has a media buffer now. So try not to go off bashing ZDNet and screaming "FUD!"
"Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow 'er."
-- Grow up and use mutt.
Might Linus just be out on vacation?
It's summertime, very traditional for Europeans to take vacation. And who deserves one more?
-- Robert
I was channel surfing the other day and was amazed to find myself looking at Linus Torvalds on CNN's Q+A program. It was the first time I heard his voice or saw a picture of him that wasn't a still.
Somebody tell the ZDNet guy that not only did he make himself available to the media, he did it in a format specifically designed for fielding as many questions as possible.
If I were Linus, I'd get the receptionist to start telling people that he'll receive messages, except for those coming from Zipf-Davies.
Always keep a sapphire in your mind
This is a silly useless article, just put up because a guy couldn't get an interview. He didn't even try to fax Linus.
Also, I'm not aware of who else would call Linus other than Journalists & Reporters. His friends will call him at home and we will just continue to E-Mail him.
Oh no, I'm sorry for suggesting that Linus. Send me E-Mail and I'll work on a procmail filter for you, ok? :)
fou aje oym asoyf ueyf jaffaq afset su!6j!/\ op 'ua>|7!>| ppn7
Because Linux doesn't need a commercial following to keep doing what it does, there's no reason for Linus to take this manipulative approach. Hopefully, the "journalists" will stop bugging Linus for stupid sound bites and start bugging the likes of Bob Young. I think Mr. Young would be much more receptive, after all, Red Hat does have a commercial interest.
It would appear that they are not concerned that Linus has a life of his own. Sure, creating a product means that you should take a certain amount of responsibility in supporting users by answering questions, but the man has to have some time to himself. He has a wife, and a child. He also has a job, and he DOES work on things other than Linux. If his attention were put 100% into appeasing journalistic vultures like Mr. Berinato, his family, job, life, and sanity would suffer. And then, to have the nerve to complain about it just makes me sick.
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Well, personally I don't have much sympathy for anyone who starts out with bombastic statements like "the linux revolution is over" and then slowly take it back over the rest of the article.
Though I'd like to be Linux enthusiasts are for the most part rational, it doesn't surprise me that at least some of them would read the first few lines and skip to the bottom to send off a flame.
I'm not sure what the author is trying to acheive.
Perhaps he wants only to generate controversy, or maybe he's affecting a faux cynical style, where he pretends that he's critical of Linux, but in the end won't stick his nick out and make any kind of real statement.
For the last few months we've seen the whole tech community devided on whether Linux is worthwhile or not. Some authors even waffle back and forth on this. This one can't even make up his mind within the scope of one article.
Anyone know Scott Berinato's phone number so I can discuss this article with him?
Pork is not a verb
Posted by Mike@ABC:
If y'all don't know me, I'm the tech reporter at ABCNEWS.com. I've had occasion to talk with Linus on a number of occasions, and he's been very nice, very thoughtful, and I think has given my stories a unique and powerful perspective that they wouldn't have otherwise had.
I've noted on here that many of the posts are aimed at the journalists, and some rightfully so. But believe it or not, we're not all twinks, dweebs, shmucks and newbies. Some of us actually take the time to RTFM before we bother people.
Of course, many don't, and I don't blame Linus for putting up the shields.
Still, Linux isn't the underground project it was two years ago. This OS has become a powerful force in both business and technology, and the guy who continues to lead the project is obviously going to be in demand.
I would hope Linus continues to work with reporters (like me, hint hint) to get Linux out into the mainstream media. And I hope he and many of the other folks whom we constantly pester continue to exhibit their characteristic patience with the media.
As the media hunt down sound bites from the 'celebrities' of the community, they're bound to get less accessible. Such is life. One thing ESR provides is a simple press resources page that has generic bio information (Of course, how many hundred Linux articles have supplied bio information for Linus by now?), a resume, links to his papers, yadda. I wonder if something like this would make life easier for Linus.
And I think that's a good thing.
I think of the revolutionary component of linux being the fact that a free, open source operating system has made inroads into the computing mainstream and rigorously shaken the computer industry.
What's next is the fallout from that - developing the GUI's, developing the applications, integrating into appropriate environments, and expanding support mechanisms. That's not revolution, that's consolidating the gains of the revolution. It means the life after the hype.
The solution to the PR problem is simple -- Keep doing what we've always been doing. Develop publically, talk privately. Not the other way around.
You'll notice that in every situation where a person in a management role must also fulfill a spokesman role, that the whole situation will begin to slowly fall apart. Management and spokesmanship are mutually exclusive activities -- You cant perform one duty without somehow taking away from or harming your ability to perform the other...A veeeery important lesson I learned not too long ago. Anyone remember the GNOME Style Guide? (*grin*)
The press is basically looking for another Gates to put in the other corner of the computer industry's boxing ring. We'd be smart to let them stay confused rather than divert our attention to clueing them in. If you think about it, the press hasn't even comprehended the idea that nobody owns Linux yet. Its their responsibility to inform themselves, not ours, imho.
Bowie J. Poag
Bowie J. Poag
Money doesn't make you more attractive or more interesting. This is something that so many people have a problem understanding.
Here's a question for Bill Gates himself: Don't you get tired of having so many people curse your name every time their machine crashes? I would feel very sorry if my Operating System hurt other people when I could fix it with virtually no trouble.
But then again, maybe that's why I'm a computer scientist instead of a businessman. That way, I can concentrate on quality and how my program is going to help people out, instead of the bottom line, and how much money can be made if we ship a week early, and don't bother on Quality Assurance.
But then again, maybe I'm a computer scientist because I'm an anti-social geek. One or the other.
Anyway, Bill Gates, if you're out there reading this, please feel free to drop me a line answering my question. I promise not to spread the address around.
. when in danger or in doubt, run in circles scream and shout --Robert Heinlein
Check out any newspaper that has a clearly partisan spin in it's 'news' articles. I've seen a lot of this in The New York Times and you also see it in places like The Wall Street Journal, etc.
They try to give you a flavor, make an impression in the headlines and the first couple of paragraphs.
If you read only the first few paragraphs of this article, you might think the Linux Revolution is over, that Linus himself is now out-of-touch and that all that's left is marketing and carefully managed press events.
It's not until further down in the article does the author admit that this is just to be expected and that you can't blame Linus. You can't criticize the article, after all it's balanced if you're careful to read it. It's also not news.
Know what? Journalists know that people are lazy and don't typically read past the first few paragraphs. And this is born out in the fact that most of the talkbackers didn't read the whole article as you pointed out.
Don't be deceived. ZD 'journalists' are all about creating a world that's optimized for their advertisers. It's often difficult to tell what is an ad and what is an article in these trade rags.
In fairness to the 'trade rags', it's a tough business and you don't succeed by upsetting your customers. The advertisers are the real customers here, subscribers pay a pittance of what it takes to produce this stuff. I read ZD and similar sources to know what it is that the big advertisers want me to believe this week.
Giving the impression that Linux is all big business these days and that Linus himself has sold out and bought into a corporate mentality complete with faux polite handlers is perfectly in line with what ZD would like to see happen to Linux. They'd like to see it become totally corporate so that there would be more need for their own brand of pricey marketing. This is hampered by the counter-culture, revolutionary image that Linux has and the easy availability of real Linux news from low-profile avenues like Slashdot.
Any positive press that Linux gets in these places are thanks to companies like Compaq, HP, IBM, RedHat, SGI, Sun, RedHat, and the rest selling Linux in a big way. The positive articles you've seen lately about Linux did not convince these big companies to support Linux, it's the other way around. The positive press has trailed after the big companies getting on the bandwagon.
I don't know Scott Berinato's number, per se, but here's a URL with all sorts of direct contacts into PC-Week. Does anyone know which office Scott works out of, to narrow the search down?
/contacts/editorial.shtm /html/editorial/edit_beatlist.shtm
http://www.pcweekmar.com/html
http://www.pcweekmar.com
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Open mind, insert foot.