Aaron Toponce wrote: [...] > Only the true hardcore nerds are familiar other distros such as > Yellow Dog, Nexenta, *BSD and even PCLinuxOS.
Not any more, which is part of my point. My experience at the weekend was a shock to me, I was unprepared for it (I will be prepared in future though). The small trader I describe was no nerd, he did not even know the name of the distro properly, but could say it was like windows (!) and could describe the four colour logo. If he had been asking for my advice or anything else, ok I could understand, but he had already decided! If he had been in contact with any linux existing users he would have been able to ask in a different way. What this suggested to me was that he had been influenced by marketing in some way. A magazine article or something on the web. Our patch. [...] > Well, if you don't know what the message is, then how do you know > that it's getting across so well? I see results on distrowatch. If these are accidental, then I believe this team might like to check out which circumstances give such useful results. If it is from deliberate coordinated action, then, well, the same surely applies. I also get asked by hardened windows traders (one anyway) for a copy of the distro! I am not trying to say that I know everything about pclinuxos and their actions. I am pointing out that I see evidence that changes are taking place which are not (necessarily) in favour of ubuntu. The distro has a dedicated following who are active. As we might expect of course. The reason for me posting here and persisting is that we are a marketing list. There are marketing actions which are relevant. Gathering information, forming opinions, strategy, actively spreading information and so on. Pclos are doing something right. What is it? Can we do it? etc. Do I need to know in detail what their message is? They would be foolish not to have one, they clearly want to to be tops. And why not? We can all have a look at their sites and newsletters and forums and make our minds up, it would not be difficult. The surprise would be to find that they had no message. > I can tell you what drives Ubuntu's success. It's community. Yes this is exactly what brought me to Ubuntu. However I do not think we sing the praises of this (unique) benefit enough. However, one of the suggested ubuntu flicks which caught my attention does highlight this: ==================================== http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V2oF_BNO5U it’s called the test: a girl is ubuntu and mac is the guy… they have to solve a problem and ubuntu get help from the comunity and mac is … all alone ;) very cool concept from page: http://johnc4510.wordpress.com/2007/08/12/ubuntu-viral-videos/ ==================================== > Again, I wouldn't worry too much about Distrowatch. Any serious > Linux user that has been at it for some time, knows that > Distrowatch is merely *one* measurement of success. Debian is > ranked #6, Gentoo #13 and KNOPPIX #14, and yet I would call all 3 > of those distributions *very* successful. Maybe even more so than > Ubuntu. All Distrowatch is saying, is people are looking at those > pages, _on_ _Distrowatch_, which probably reflects desktop users > more than corporate entities. It is only one measurement yes certainly, but the press will not ignore it and some will make merry with it. I do not have a high opinion of most of the press. It is fine when you are winning, bad when you are not. You are big news both directions. Often without substance anyway. Is not this the stuff of marketing? It will be good to have some response ready. My guess is that in about 4 or 6 weeks, ubuntu will roll down to Number 2 on distrowatch (6 months). Hopefully we will be ready. Even better, the October timing of new releases of Gutsy and other distros will change the statistics landscape maybe? > In a nutshell, PCLinuxOS seems to be doing fairly well. And I hope > that they continue to become very successful. Linux adoption isn't > going to come from a single Distribution, but from the Linux > community as a whole. While I enjoy seeing more and more people > use Ubuntu, I don't want Ubuntu to become a monopoly in the Linux > market. I enjoy seeing people using other Distributions. It's > healthy, and should be encouraged. Yes, but it would be lovely to keep ubuntu up there? :-) > Mark Shuttleworth estimated around 3-4 million Ubuntu users. That > makes for a very successful operating system, even if the market > share is still small. So, keep spreading Ubuntu. ' sure will -- alan cocks Kubuntu user#10391 -- ubuntu-marketing mailing list ubuntu-marketing@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-marketing
