Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 16:54:33 +0100 From: "Julian H. Stacey" <jhs@flat.berklix.net> To: Paul Waring <paul@xk7.net> Cc: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Lack of FreeBSD coverage in the UK media Message-ID: <200703231554.l2NFsXVb060177@fire.jhs.private> In-Reply-To: <4603D9FF.4070100@xk7.net> References: <4603D9FF.4070100@xk7.net>
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Paul Waring wrote: > I've noticed over the past few years that there has been a growing > number of Linux magazines available in the UK (Linux Format, Linux > Magazine and Linux User/Developer are the ones that immediately spring What one can leverage with magazines depends on local turnover/ size of national business, & if you can amortise costs by publishing abroad too: It's a lot harder to write an article (more work, that fewer can do), than it is for foreign magazines to find local people to translate to local language. eg many Germans in computing read English without problem, so its worth offering any BSD article anyone writes to non English speaking countries world wide. Best bet to be paid, might be to go for a USA / world distributed mag like Dr Dobbs, (that has a hopefully decent turnover to start with), & sell an article to them & simultaneously give them contacts to the UK etc book trade to expand their international sales. Mags want exclusive rights if paying, but if they get article free (& translate to German, Korean or whatever themselves) then you can dictate terms. SKIP REST IF NOT INTERESTED IN BRITISH & GERMAN MAGs. I've been in Munich many years, but British, so fell in to conversation with a Brit. from Linux Mag. few years back when he was visiting Systems, a trade fair in Munich: Germany was Linux mag's cash cow, & Britain was a struggling low turn over low\profit extension (*), so they often took German stuff, translated it & tossed in a bit of local UK if they found it. They weren't overflowing with money for the UK op. ( I was asking them if they wanted a BSD CD mastered, & they said ask German parent co. as more money) (*) Still, remember the Beaching effect, the end station only _appears_ unprofitable, but if cut, the whole is less healthy, so UK probably helped toward commercial health of whole. He thought UK was pretty small market as a whole: far more MickeySoft addicted than Germany (chimes with what I saw): In Waterstones Tun Wells, UK: MS everywhere, virtually zilch else I recall (but TW has no university or polytechnic, no real industry or manufacturing, just inumerable pen pushers, (TW was 1 of 12 designated zone centres for admin. in event of nuclear war, presumably 'cos no industry, (& Unix is since found where more technicly sophisticated users are perhaps ?). In Canterbury (small agricultural town with a cathedral, hence called a city, with a University (significant to early UK Unix), even in the Uni. bookshop there seemed rather a lot of MS & I dont recall BSD, but must have been some Linux. In Munich Germany, (city of ~2x 10^6 with lots of Universities & industry etc) although most is MS; Easy to find a variety of Linux Mags, & in main computer shopping street, shops sell h/ware without OS, & they Have heard of Linux & sometimes BSD, & dont assume pirate just 'cos you dont want to buy MS with h/ware. ... SO unless things have changed in last half decade, UK Linux mags might not have lots of cash for articles, & Linux mags are hard to find some places eg TW, & BSD ie exotic beyond belief. German Mags (apart from Linux mag & Linux User mag): FreeX is not exactly a BSD mag. but nearish ... they publish in German, They are small & Not flush. Editor Rosa Riebl speaks English, they'd likely be interested if you weren't looking for [much] money http://www.cul.de +49.911.400030. IX mag. by http://www.heise.de (who also publish a great hardware mag `CT', but in German & off topic) `IX' mag has occasional trials in English, & an English web http://www.heise.de/english/ -- Julian Stacey. Munich Computer Consultant, BSD Unix C Linux. http://berklix.com Escape Microsoft 20th April 2007: http://berklix.com/free/talk/ Ihr Rauch = mein allergischer Kopfschmerz.
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