Date: Sat, 17 Apr 1999 10:45:07 +0100 From: paul@originative.co.uk To: jkh@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: RE: Somewhat in my own defense Message-ID: <A6D02246E1ABD2119F5200C0F0303D10FED6@octopus>
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> -----Original Message----- > From: jkh@FreeBSD.ORG [mailto:jkh@FreeBSD.ORG] > Sent: 17 April 1999 05:24 > To: freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG > Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG > Subject: Somewhat in my own defense much deleted > Another slightly annoying thing is the extent to which I'm > misquoted by > some of these magazines (though this one got most things I > said right, > if you don't include the comment about grizzled unixheads :). For > example, I'm widely quoted as saying that I actively > discourage native > FreeBSD ports when what I originally said was (and pay close > attention) > "For those companies who are contemplating ONLY a single port, or are > just getting back into the Unix market and only have the initial > resources for one port, I encourage them to port to Linux and get the > widest possible user base." I didn't say I didn't want any FreeBSD > ports at all, I said that if you're only going to do one, Jordan, I don't think anyone will dispute the effort you put into supporting the project. However, I do think there are some things you could do differently when talking to the press. Journalists like two things. 1) Ready made press releases, generally a small bit of prose that makes a single point clearly that they can more or less cut and paste into their publication without too much work. Journalists like to minimise their work (who doesn't). 2) Overly stated answers that can be pruned down a lot during editing to suit the slant that the author wants to take in the article. It's point 2 that you fall foul of and that's where the criticisms from within the group stem from. You just shouldn't say things like the above. A single one line response such as "yes we'd love companies to port their products to FreeBSD" should be the correct reply. It can't be turned around into anything else but it doesn't in any way burn bridges with other groups. Similarly, "our main strength is the server market" is a good quote, there's no reason to say "we've conceded the desktop market to Microsoft", that's a negative point not a positive one and can easily be turned around out of context in an article. I've done a lot of PR in my life and the above two points were good pieces of advice handed down to me from people who had a lot more experience and certainly they've borne true for me. Paul Richards Originative Solutions Ltd To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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