Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 08:44:00 -0400 From: Michael Lucas <mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org> To: advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: GB <gbrooks@BLUE-MOUSE.COM> Subject: Answering the Questions (was Re: FreeBSD PR (long, rambling -- bear with me)) Message-ID: <20020916084359.B20974@blackhelicopters.org> In-Reply-To: <006c01c25b71$9adf6940$6e01a8c0@CITYMOUSE>; from gbrooks@BLUE-MOUSE.COM on Fri, Sep 13, 2002 at 05:04:59PM -0500 References: <20020913143941.A2346@blackhelicopters.org> <006c01c25b71$9adf6940$6e01a8c0@CITYMOUSE>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
So, we all got distracted on "Things to Do." Things to Do are good. But we don't have a blueprint yet. Greg asked some good, basic questions here, and (basically) said that failure to answer those questions and stick to the answers was a big cause of PR campaign failures. We of course skipped that step. :-) On Fri, Sep 13, 2002 at 05:04:59PM -0500, GB wrote: > Think of communicating about FreeBSD as a process rather than an event > -- handling PR, communications or whatever you want to call it as a > one-shot is sort of like thinking about network security as a one-time > event: Such efforts are largely destined to fail. OK. So, we need some sort of process and checklist for things. PR event happens, do X, Y, and Z. This checklist should be available as part of our PR-internal web site. The following are my suggestions for answers to Greg's questions. Please discuss and clarify. > Things to define include: > > * Who are our key audiences? By this I mean those most likely to adopt > FreeBSD or influence the decision process. (Having said that, I > recognize that focusing on potential adopters and their influencers is > just my gut instinct -- can anyone identify other groups we should be > reaching out to? Standards-setting bodies? Other *nix communities? Tim > O'Reilly so he'll send us free books?) Our key audiences: 1) ISPs: ISPs have long been fans of FreeBSD 2) Systems Administrators 3) Security-conscious networks 4) Embedded systems producers (no GPL to worry them, hurrah!) > * What makes FreeBSD different/better for the newbie? For the person > with a little Linux experience under his/her belt? For the I.T. pro? > And, while we're at it, what does FreeBSD suck at? (Granted, we may > think it sucks at nothing, but someone is going to identify weaknesses > with the OS, and it's sound communications practice to have an answer > for ever assertion likely to come up.) Better for the newbie: Better for the Linux convert: --documentation: there is one true FreeBSD, none of this "this tutorial only good under Purple Snot Linux" crud. --centralized design team --ports system Better for the professional: --high performance --very secure --simple upgrade process --very, very debugged --designed and coded by highly experienced computing professionals Places of suckage: --lack of "wizards" > * What are we out in front on? Linux has a foothold in the corporate > I.T. world, OpenBSD has security and NetBSD has portability. What's our > niche? Related question: Out of this niche and our identified strengths, > what's our "elevator story?" (The 1-2 minute spiel what says what > FreeBSD is, why it's good and why it matters.) We are the "friendly BSD". Niche: Here, I'm stuck. I use FreeBSD damn near everywhere, except my crash lab. > So far, I've heard mentions of posters and some other materials. Any > thoughts on how effective (if at all) any of the following might be: > > * Professionally formatted white paper comparing FreeBSD-based solutions > to Windows/Linux in various situations. These would be excellent tools for systems administrators seeking to use FreeBSD. > * FAQs or introductory documents directed at specific groups (again, I > keep thinking of utter newbies, those who've dabbled in Linux and the > I.T. professional, but there are likely other groups as well). In a > perfect world, of course, everyone finds Perfect Wisdom by R-ingTFM -- > but we don't live in a perfect world, so every bit we do to make the > learning curve easier helps make inroads. These FAQs could be kept as "sub-divisions" of the current FAQ. Perhaps we could somehow "tag" FAQ entries as ones that should be included in a particular FAQ. > * Some standard press materials/backgrounders that the media could > download, such as: > > -- FreeBSD vs. Linux vs. Windows vs. Mac OS (a one-page table) > -- Major sites running FreeBSD > -- Uptime/reliability stats > etc... Yes! ==ml -- Michael Lucas mwlucas@FreeBSD.org, mwlucas@BlackHelicopters.org http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/q/Big_Scary_Daemons Absolute BSD: http://www.AbsoluteBSD.com/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20020916084359.B20974>