On Wed, Oct 20, 1999 at 04:45:48PM +0000, M Thompson wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I have been a member of this list (Mandrake Newbie) for a short while now
> and know that there are a ton of knowledgeable participants on it...I am
> taking a Marketing class as part of my MBA curriculum. For my Marketing
> project, I chose Linux. I have to develop a plan to Market my product
> choice (Linux).
You might do well to look up the S-1 filing from Red Hat's recent IPO for
some of their ideas about marketing Linux. The EDGAR website (sorry, no
URL) should carry it.
> I have already collected an extensive list of internal strengths and
> weaknesses. I now need to develop a list of "external" threats and
> opportunities. Specifically, I want to find some political-legal threats
> and opportunities, cultural threats and opportunities, economic threats and
> opportunities, and demographic threats and opportunities.
Political-Legal threat:
Intellectual property claims from commercial developers
Cultural threat:
A loss of the "linux development is cool" mentality
A big flamefest among senior kernel developers (Linus can't do this
all by himself anymore)
Economic threat:
Commercial distributions could be hurt by cheaper competitors
(cheapbytes, etc)
Demographic threat:
See cultural above, if the "linux is cool" aura around Linux is
lost, we lose new users. Specifically: BeOS, *BSD, etc.
> If possible, please steer me toward a website that lists some of the
> external threats and opportunities facing Linux. If possible, feel free to
> give me your personal insights.
You might do best at the Linux Internation site, as they're primarily
interested in marketing Linux to the suits.
--
Steve Philp
Network Administrator
Advance Packaging Corporation
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
