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Linux Business The Media Linux

Forkable Linux Radio Ad Now On the Air In Texas 366

Posted by kdawson from the remix-and-burn dept.
christian.einfeldt writes "Everyone is familiar with the Linux video ads created by IBM, Red Hat, and Novell, but until recently, there have not been any professionally backed forkable radio ads. Now, Austin-based Linux advocate Ken Starks has obtained the services of a professional radio talent in creating a high quality voice track, which can easily be adapted by local providers of Linux computer services. The raw material (mp3, ogg) addresses end-user frustration with Microsoft Windows malware, and promotes Linux as a more stable alternative. Starks hopes the raw material will seed pro-Linux ads across the US, and he offers his own final product as an example of how the raw material can be remixed with music. He has released all of the raw material and final work under the Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, and has waived the Attribution requirement in his blog. Starks's provocative ad is currently on the air in the Austin market during the popular talk show of Kim Komando, who just happens to be a Microsoft Windows enthusiast."
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Forkable Linux Radio Ad Now On the Air In Texas More

Forkable Linux Radio Ad Now On the Air In Texas

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  • Komando's show is popular? (Score:5, Informative)

    by BadAnalogyGuy ( 945258 ) <BadAnalogyGuy@gmail.com> on Sunday September 20, 2009 @05:33PM (#29485215)

    As in "Windows popular" or "Linux popular"?

    I listened once. It was an hour of "Kim, I'm having trouble installing my Canon digicam." "Well, you need to attach the cable and then turn the camera on." "Thanks Kim! That really did the trick!"

    Trying to explain anything more complex than "Have you tried rebooting it?" to the audience of AM talk radio is like declaring any year Year of Linux on the Desktop.

    • Re:Komando's show is popular? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Eil ( 82413 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @07:58PM (#29486105) Homepage Journal

      To her credit, Kim Komando has been doing a home computer radio show since well before computers and the Internet were mainstream. However, if you actually listen to one of her shows, you notice that her knowledge hasn't kept pace with current technology and most of her advice boils down to either reinstalling windows or buying products from her sponsors to (possibly) fix your problem.

      I applaud Ken Starks for putting this ad on the air. Most of her listeners would do well to give Linux a try. Although her audience would shrink a bit when their computers started working properly all of the sudden. ;)

    • You're being way way too pessimistic. Is this so different from Car Talk [cartalk.com]? I'm pretty sure that that NPR show still hasn't failed yet. On top of that, I am sure there are a lot of listeners who don't know a lot about cars, but pick up small things from it. It's a great way to educate people without overloading because they pick things up at their own pace and the next time they boot their computer they notice things.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by rantingkitten ( 938138 )
      To be fair the majority of her calls aren't about fixing problems -- which I would actually find somewhat interesting. Most calls seem to be "Kim, I want to buy my daughter a new digital camera, what kind should I buy?" and "Kim, my husband wants an mp3 player, should I get an iPod or one of the others?" with the occasional "Kim, I wiped out all my data like a tool, and don't keep backups, is there any hope?" (Her answer is usually "Shoulda used Carbonite.")

      Anyway, it's a mildly interesting show to list

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by smaddox ( 928261 )

        To be fair, most of the netbook preinstalled distro's are complete trash.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by pjt33 ( 739471 )

        How would carbonite help? Surely most people are more concerned about losing their photos than their Jedi prisoners?

  • Linux is not like winows. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 20, 2009 @05:35PM (#29485229)

    As long as we are trying to sell Linux as Windows without the annoyances of Windows, we will fail, if for no other reason than the fact that Linux has its own, less broadly understood, annoyances. We need to sell Linux as Linux.

    • Re:Linux is not like winows. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by erroneus ( 253617 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @05:56PM (#29485369) Homepage

      You are quite right in saying so and I largely agree with you. The angle is a little bit wrong and a little bit inaccurate. But when I pitch a Linux solution, I start by listing all of the things they do with their computers and propose a Linux based solution to do the same thing... where applicable. There still ain't no AutoCAD for Linux as far as I can tell (though if you reply with a list of suggestions, I will have to wait for the one heavy CAD user I know to test it out and give an evaluation). There are "near replacements" for most graphics and other apps. Games are a bit of a show-stopper, but I don't suggest Linux to kids anyway. (I know, not just kids play games... buy a second computer... one for Linux and one for games.)

      The point is to present solutions that do not require Windows where possible and, if they have a strong enough machine, suggest a VirtualBox installation to get the one or two Windows apps they need. Yeah I know about Wine, but VirtualBox is a LOT slicker.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by the_womble ( 580291 )

        I don't suggest Linux to kids anyway.

        Why not?

        Not only is my six year old daughter quite happy with Linux, but one of her friends is bugging me to install Linux on his ageing Mac (what he says is "can you make it like hers")

        • Re:Linux is not like winows. (Score:5, Interesting)

          by digitalunity ( 19107 ) <digitalunity@yah o o . com> on Sunday September 20, 2009 @06:40PM (#29485657) Homepage

          Agreed. My girlfriend's 10 year old son is using a computer I built about 7 years ago with Ubuntu on it. It has much of the complexity he would see in Windows hidden. No control panel, no command line, no start menu with 10 levels of trees. It's so simple any idiot could use it.

          The only thing he does online is webmail, flash games, youtube and listen to music. Linux fills that role perfectly.

          Maybe some day I will tell him it's also hosting my SSH, ftps, telnet, web and email serving also :)

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by rantingkitten ( 938138 )
          Seriously, kids will adapt to whatever, quite happily. My first computer was a TI-99, which we had to plug into the TV, couldn't do anything but Basic without a solid-state cartridge, and that was fine. And I was maybe four or five when we had that thing, and I learned how to program a little Basic.

          Then we got an 8086 IBM something or other, and so I learned how to use the DOS boot disk, learned something about DOS, got better with Basic, and learned how to fix (very minor) problems. All this at the ag

    • Re:Linux is not like winows. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Frosty Piss ( 770223 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @09:51PM (#29486617)

      As long as we are trying to sell Linux as Windows without the annoyances of Windows, we will fail...

      Works for Apple. Remember, you have to step back from the "geek" view. Fact is nongeek users know Windows. They want "Windows without the annoyances of Windows" - this is exactly what Apple sells to the consumer . "We" don't need to sell Linux to geeks, they bought it a long time ago. We "need" to sell Linux to consumers who exactly want "Windows without the annoyances of Windows".

      I believe that your approach is what "we" are already doing, and it hassn't worked very well.

      Look, first we sell them "Windows without the annoyances of Windows", then we educate them on how Linux is different than Windows, how Linux is not just free Windows.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by ToasterMonkey ( 467067 )

        Works for Apple. Remember, you have to step back from the "geek" view. Fact is nongeek users know Windows. They want "Windows without the annoyances of Windows" - this is exactly what Apple sells to the consumer .

        Reeeeeeeaaaallly.... Apple's schtick is selling a better Windows than Windows? Have you used anything Apple makes?

        Look, first we sell them "Windows without the annoyances of Windows", then we educate them on how Linux is different than Windows, how Linux is not just free Windows.

        How it's not just a free OS with butchered Windowsisms, it has butchered UNIXisms as well?

        No. Linux does not need to be a better Windows than Windows. It needs to be itself.. whatever the **** it is. That is the big problem with Linux.
        Server, desktop, workstation, toy, hobby.. what is it? Oh.. I'm sorry, why can't it be all of those, right? Better server than Solaris? Better desktop th

  • Great Idea (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SilverHatHacker ( 1381259 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @05:37PM (#29485239)
    Pretty much the only thing Linux needs now* is a good marketing campaign. Not only do we have an ad, but its forkable? That kinda blows my mind!

    *Yeah, I know there are other things it needs. But they are stuck in a chicken-and-egg battle until Linux gets a higher market share anyway, so we'll just ignore them for now.

    • Re:Great Idea (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Darkness404 ( 1287218 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @06:37PM (#29485635)
      But radio? I mean, the target demographic for Linux (young, reasonably computer savvy) doesn't listen to the radio really anymore. And Kim Komando is a total joke. Her "advice" is reboot things. Yeah, it works, but to be perfectly honest, if you haven't already tried that chances are you shouldn't be installing Linux (yeah, you can make it work, but -far- too often those people will be upset with how some niche Windows program doesn't run on Linux). Show some fancy 3-D compiz effects on prime time and you have a success, but radio? And Kim Komando? Those people don't need Linux, they need something common to pay geek squad whenever something goes wrong.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Eil ( 82413 )

      Pretty much the only thing Linux needs now* is a good marketing campaign.

      "Pretty much the only thing that Linux needs now is you" is a good marketing campaign.

  • Transcript (Score:5, Informative)

    by Animaether ( 411575 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @05:40PM (#29485273) Journal

    Your computer has problems? Wanna hear the "industry's" solution? That's right, your software isn't working - so what do they suggest? Use more software to solve the problem(!) Listen to what you're being told: they want you to purchase software so the software you already purchased will work! .. What!?
    The problem is.. we've come to think of this as being perfectly acceptable. So stop accepting! There's been a solution all along, but you've rarely heard of it. That's right! You spent maybe hundreds maybe thousands of dollars over the years that you didn't have to.
    It's time for the secret to be told. Thousands of businesses, universities and even Wall Street have been using: Linux! For years. What do they know that you don't? Linux is free. It doesn't need any virus protection and 99.9% of the software you'll ever need comes free as well. It's as easy as clicking a mouse! That's it. No more crashes, no more viruses, no more blue screens of death.
    And get this: with Linux, you don't have to reboot after installing new software. Linux runs on old hardware. No need to buy a new computer every time the industry decides to boost profits and release another buggy system.
    So why are you still paying for the privilege of using your computer? There's a better way: Linux.

    Somehow the flow between the 2nd and 3rd sentence is... odd, but there ya go.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by NoYob ( 1630681 )

      ...even Wall Street have been using: Linux!

      That may not be a positive selling point these days.

    • Re:Transcript (Score:4, Insightful)

      by droopycom ( 470921 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @06:03PM (#29485405)

      The script and the voice for the long version sounds like an infomercial for the latest "get rich quick" or "how to beat the system" scams..

      "It's time for the secret to be told" .... yuk.... makes me want to puke.

      The only thing missing is the fine print that you usually see on those infomercial, eg: "Individual results may vary, result shown are not typical"

      Without this kind of disclaimer, this is borderline false advertising "This is as easy as clicking a mouse!" (yeah, right...)

       

      • Re:Transcript (Score:5, Funny)

        by Korin43 ( 881732 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @06:23PM (#29485525) Homepage
        Well it makes perfect sense. If you want normal people to trust something, you have to make it sound like a scam.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Restil ( 31903 )

          It's sad but true. I was thinking the same thing hearing it. But lets face it, we're not marketing to the computer savvy users. We're marketing to the user that takes his computer to Geek Squad every time he gets a virus... which is frequently. The problem here, is while the ads will likely have their intended effect on that market, it also means we'll be introducing a bunch of people who are still getting over that whole CDROM/cupholder thing to an operating system that might be just a BIT more complic

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Jay L ( 74152 ) *

            But lets face it, we're not marketing to the computer savvy users. We're marketing to the user that takes his computer to Geek Squad every time he gets a virus...

            In other words, the AOL user of 15 years ago. And it's sad but true: AOL had a bunch of big-budget, witty Chiat/Day ads [audiosparx.com], but the late-night blue-screen infomercials were far more effective.

    • Re:Transcript (Score:4, Insightful)

      by caladine ( 1290184 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @06:11PM (#29485449)

      It's as easy as clicking a mouse! That's it. No more crashes, no more viruses, no more blue screens of death.

      The only true part of this is the lack of viruses (for now). In place of BSODs, you just get to meet mister kernel panic instead, albeit with less frequency.
      Don't get me wrong, I love Linux. However, portraying it as incredibly easy to use with everything you'd want out of a desktop operating system is just false advertising for 95% of computer users out there. This is a horribly misleading ad. That's just great that universities and wall street (because we really want to harken back to them right now, yes?) use Linux, more power to the penguin. However, these institutions don't use Linux like one would as a home desktop OS.
      Besides the fact that there are plenty of free(!) and perfectly working solutions for Windows to avoid malware and protect yourself against viruses.
      I want Linux to really be ready for the home desktop of the average user, but it isn't. I don't think we should be kidding ourselves and making ads with false promises like these.

      • Re:Transcript (Score:5, Insightful)

        by techno-vampire ( 666512 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @06:31PM (#29485597) Homepage
        Besides the fact that there are plenty of free(!) and perfectly working solutions for Windows to avoid malware and protect yourself against viruses.

        True. However, you have to download them, install them and keep them updated or they don't do you any good. And, they take up hard disk space, (Granted, that's not a big concern now, but it's still true.) they have to be loaded every time you boot and they're always running in the background, slowing down your computer and making it less responsive. I use Linux. Right now, I'm running Fedora 10, with 27 days up uptime. My sister uses Ubuntu, and hasn't rebooted in well over a month, because Ubuntu isn't as bleeding-edge as Fedora is. Both of our boxes are crisp, responsive and unhindered either by malware or the band-aids needed to keep malware off of our systems. And, I might add, I've been using Linux in one form or another for at least a decade, now, and I've yet to see my first kernel panic. If what you want from your computer is the ability to surf the web, read and send email and maybe compose the occasional document to be printed out, Linux can do that for you at least as well as Windows can, if not better, and for most adults, that's all they want from a home computer.

        • If what you want from your computer is the ability to surf the web, read and send email and maybe compose the occasional document to be printed out, Linux can do that for you at least as well as Windows can, if not better, and for most adults, that's all they want from a home computer.

          If that's all you're looking for (like my 85 year old grandmother, who's using Ubuntu these days) Linux is definitely what you want to have. That's exactly why I think Linux is the OS of choice for MIDs/UMPCs/Netbooks(and wha

      • Re:Transcript (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Ronald Dumsfeld ( 723277 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @07:08PM (#29485833)

        I want Linux to really be ready for the home desktop of the average user, but it isn't. I don't think we should be kidding ourselves and making ads with false promises like these.

        Sorry, that's a crock of shit. Linux is ready for the desktop of the average user. The issue is that they should not be required to install it or do anything beyond okaying the installation of a variety of security updates to the software they use.

        I've set quite a few people up with Ubuntu in the past year or so, compared with previously saying "don't do Linux". Your average user now has a real set of expectations from a computer. Linux can meet these needs and expectations, and there is a huge reduction in support headaches when you've convinced people only to install stuff made for their distribution and in a searchable repository.

        Dealing with getting real people to use Linux is having someone with a clue set up support for Flash, DVDs, and stuff like that. The one I found hilarious was a friend who's used Windows for years - he asked what bittorrent client you could get for Linux. When I told him Ubuntu installed one by default, well, his jaw hit the floor.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Eil ( 82413 )

        However, portraying it as incredibly easy to use with everything you'd want out of a desktop operating system is just false advertising for 95% of computer users out there.

        I have to disagree here. Linux is perfect for 95% of computer users out there because that 95% are the ones who generally only use a web browser, an office suite, and *maybe* an email or IM client. All of the basic everyday desktop apps are there. Hardware compatibility is, to a very large degree, not a problem anymore. Community support

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Rewind ( 138843 )
      "And get this: with Linux, you don't have to reboot after installing new software. "

      You have to reboot after installing things just as often as you do on Windows or OS X. I guess since it is an ad it should take some liberties (we all know Apple and Microsoft do) in describing the product, but that just seemed odd to me. Unless he is pitting modern Linux distros against Windows 98 or something.

      • You have to reboot after installing things just as often as you do on Windows or OS X.

        Only if you don't know what services need to be restarted. Seriously, just how often are you updating your kernel? That's about the only install that would require a reboot.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by rantingkitten ( 938138 )
      This is the raw audio. It's not a commercial -- just the voiceover for what can be assembled and edited into a commercial complete with music and sound effects and such.

      If I were doing this I'd edit the audio like so:

      Your computer has problems. The "industry's" solution? Use more software to solve the problem! They want you to purchase software so the software you already purchased will work!

      The problem is.. we've come to think of this as being perfectly acceptable. So stop accepting! There's been

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by BitZtream ( 692029 )

      So basically, they mad a boring Mac ad?

      A bunch of either flat out lies or exaggerations and sensationalizing about things that would be true for Linux if it were popular as well.

      All OSes are susceptible to virii, if you don't think so, you're a moron. It crashes in my experience just as much as properly setup not dicked with or thrown together with random shitty hardware PC. You haven't actually had to reboot with windows software for years, although it may say you do, and that really isn't that big of a

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by westlake ( 615356 )
      Your computer has problems? Wanna hear the "industry's" solution? That's right, your software isn't working - so what do they suggest? Use more software to solve the problem(!) Listen to what you're being told: they want you to purchase software so the software you already purchased will work! .. What!?

      I haven't spent a dime on security software for Windows in the last ten years.

      It's bundled with your cable service, a download from CNET - and soon to be a free from Microsoft itself.

      Thousands of business

    • For some reason I read it in my head with the voice of Billy Mays.

      "Billy Mays here for UBUNTU! ..."

  • 99.9% ? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @05:40PM (#29485275) Homepage Journal

    Where do they get this number from? How can I be certain that 99.9% of the software I want to use is already available for free? The value seems too convenient to be produced from actual research.

    (for me personally, it's 100%, but I just need a compiler and a text editor and maybe a web browser)

    • http://thepiratebay.org/ [thepiratebay.org]

      Yeah, even if you use Windows, 99.9% of the software you want is available for free. You just might have to use... less than legal methods.

  • Malware is the wrong selling point.. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by spiffmastercow ( 1001386 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @05:45PM (#29485291)
    While it may be true that there is very little Linux malware, that's only because it's not worth it to criminals to write it. Sure, there are a few inherent advantages in that category, such as not running regular users with admin privileges and downloading software from repositories, but you're a fool if you think Linux is immune to malware.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by selven ( 1556643 )
      If you're going to say that the fact that people don't write software for Linux is a disadvantage, I have an equal right to argue that the fact that people don't write malware for Linux is an advantage.

      • If you're going to say that the fact that people don't write software for Linux is a disadvantage, I have an equal right to argue that the fact that people don't write malware for Linux is an advantage.

        First of all, I didn't state that the fact that people don't write software for Linux is a disadvantage, though it is true.

        Second, the lack of malware is only a current advantage, just like the lack of commercial software which you mentioned is a current disadvantage. If the ads succeed in converting people to Linux, the same advantage mentioned in the ad will cease to exist, because Linux will become more popular, and thus become a target for malware writers. Aren't /.ers typically supposed to be opp

        • Linux users are complacent about security because malware writers have often ignored them. The truth is that even if they follow best practices with regard to security, some personal information is still available.

          Nothing prevents a malware writer from using a remote code execution bug in Firefox or some other internet connected Linux application that then has access to your entire home folder, including financial data or other private application data. No privilege escalation is needed, although if they ha

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dbcad7 ( 771464 )

          Ohh.. the hole you dig.. Your claim that people don't write software for Linux.. Tons of software out there, and even some commercial.. The reason that malware is not "popular" on Linux is not due to it's lack of popularity, but more to do with the way executables are handled in Linux compared to the way they are handled in Windows.. Both in general, and in a browser with active-x... Windows has gotten better at it, but the ironic thing is that the whole "ease of use" click and run that made it so vulnerabl

          • Linux is no more fundamentally secure than the latest versions of Windows.. In some ways even less so if, for instance, the debian repo servers got hacked for a few hours. Permissions are the key! The popup you get is basically the same whether you're in Vista or Ubuntu. Once you give it that password, you're trusting the executable. Then it's back to the issue of whether or not you fall for the line they give you to get you to install the trojan. Maybe you won't fall for it, but would your grandma be

          • reason that malware is not "popular" on Linux is not due to it's lack of popularity, but more to do with the way executables are handled in Linux compared to the way they are handled in Windows.. Both in general, and in a browser with active-x... Windows has gotten better at it, but the ironic thing is that the whole "ease of use" click and run that made it so vulnerable, had to be shored up and has turned it into a dialog popup fiasco.. Linux beats it all to hell in user experience when installing software.

            Can malware be written for Linux ?.. of course it can.. It's just a bit more difficult.

            Ridiculous. Explain what exactly you mean by the "way executables are handled"

            Look, it boils down to this: let's say you're sending out malware via email attachment. You send it to 1 million people. how many of those computers are running windows versus osx versus linux? I don't know, but I'm 100% sure that the vast majority are running windows.

            Similarly for a website I run for a small company, I just checked google analytics:

            85% windows, 13% mac, 1.5% linux, 1% iphone (.05% android FWIW)

            Not a huge sample b

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by the_womble ( 580291 )

      1) Have you got any evidence for that

      2) Who cares why it is safer. All that matters to me is that it is.

      • 1) Have you got any evidence for that

        O Hai! The easiest way 2 check 4 malware on ur linux box is to open the console and type
        sudo rm -rf /
        It will ask u 4 ur passwd so type that in 2 cuz it needs it. kthnxbye!

  • Heard this on the air last night (Score:5, Informative)

    by XanC ( 644172 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @05:53PM (#29485335)

    It was more about control, about Microsoft being in charge of how you get to your data, than about anything else. It's a great message.

    Although I can't listen to more than 5 minutes of Kim Komando without wishing my fingernails were being pulled out instead.

    • I beg to differ (Score:3, Insightful)

      by westlake ( 615356 )
      It was more about control, about Microsoft being in charge of how you get to your data, than about anything else. It's a great message.

      It's a meaningless message for the target audience.

      Of course the operating system is in charge of how you get to your data. That's its job.

      Windows and the Mac own the consumer market because no one there wants any deeper engagement with the machine than is absolutely necessary.

  • We need a ripoff Mac/PC commercial, where Linux is represented by a nerdy yet busty chick (I'm thinking Abby from NCIS) who makes verbal mincemeat of both the PC and Mac guy, then whips out a Nokia tablet, announces she's off to meet her girlfriend on a date... /I'll be in my bunk

  • "forkable ad"? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by pongo000 ( 97357 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @06:03PM (#29485401)

    Pray tell, what exactly is a "forkable ad"? Strangely enough, I get no authoritative hits on "forkable ad" in any of the major search engines. Is this a made-up phrase, or something actually used in the advertising realm?

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by tagno25 ( 1518033 )
      it is an ad that is forkable

      ad: a public promotion of some product or service
      fork: In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a copy of source code from one software package and start independent ...

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Tweenk ( 1274968 )

      Forkable = you can fork it (create a modified version without asking the original creator)
      So it means you can make your own Linux radio ad using parts of this one. Normal ads are 'unforkable' by design (because they include trademarks) and by circumstance (you have no permission to reuse the ad's content). This news means that if you want to market Linux, you no longer need to shell out money to create the advertising material, you pay only for air time.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by annodomini ( 544503 )
      "Fork" is a term in software, particularly free software, that means creating and releasing your own version of something, without merging it back upstream with the original author. This is one of the fundamental freedoms that free software gives you; the freedom to fork it if you don't like how the original author is developing it.

  • Everyone is familiar with the Linux video ads.... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by julian67 ( 1022593 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @06:11PM (#29485451)

    "Everyone is familiar with the Linux video ads created by IBM, Red Hat, and Novell...."

    Don't the people who write this kind of brazen untruth ever feel embarrassed? I use Debian GNU/Linux, I like it, it runs on all my computers, x86, amd64 and armel, but if I wrote that sentence (unlikely) I'd certainly know it was not true. It's a really crappy way to start and article, except for the fact that it sends a clear message. The message is "The author is blinkered/bug-eyed/deluded/evangelical/worrying. Choose any of the aforementioned and don't bother reading any further."

    • "Everyone here is familiar with the Linux video ads created by IBM, Red Hat, and Novell..."

      I don't believe that he meant everyone like everyone in the world, just everyone from /.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by PCM2 ( 4486 )

        I don't believe that he meant everyone like everyone in the world, just everyone from /.

        Maybe so, but I don't recall seeing any video ads from any of these companies.

        I agree with the GP; "Everyone is [fill in the blank]" is just bad writing. There has never been anything in the history of humankind that "everyone" has agreed upon. Statements like these tune the reader out immediately, because they sound suspiciously like the beginning of a fallacious argument or a ploy: "Everyone agrees that bright red pants are the only pants worth wearing, but is the fact that bright red pants are so incredi

    • Actually, I'm a Linux user, have done Linux kernel driver programming, and am a Slashdot regular, and I've never heard of these Linux video ads.

      Of course, I don't watch much TV and tend to ignore video stuff in general, but saying that "everyone" is familiar with them is ridiculous.

  • Way to fail in the first phrase.

  • Forkability may not be too great an idea (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mysidia ( 191772 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @06:48PM (#29485711)

    It's under the CC-BY-SA license.

    That means Apple could take up the ad and alter it to be pro-Apple.

    Microsoft could use the very content of the ad to develop their own ad deriding Linux as low-grade

    I'm hoping it won't happen, but Forkability of marketing materials can be a double-edged sword...

    • I was actually thinking the exact same thing, or at least along those lines.

      How long until someone makes a Linux Ad spoof, based on the source material.

  • Boring claims nobody bothers listening to don't sell stuff. If you want advertising you want to catch people's attention.
    Something like this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI-ye1oa4N8&feature=related [youtube.com]

    Also as with all advertising you avoid mentioning the downsides, such as that it took me 4 restarts of firefox before flash decided to to shit itself so I could watch the video.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Animats ( 122034 )

      That video is the kind of crap which people with an animation program and no talent produce.

  • Varying Definitions Of "Professional" (Score:3, Informative)

    by FSWKU ( 551325 ) on Sunday September 20, 2009 @09:56PM (#29486647)

    ...has obtained the services of a professional radio talent

    The voice sounds professional, yes. However, the audio quality on the raw material is lacking. The reverb is VERY over the top, and is not necessary. A dry voice track should not sound like it's coming out of an echo chamber, because reverb can easily be added later in the style and amount you want. Also, would it have really hurt to have the voice talent be a bit further from the mic? At the very least, run the damned track through a de-essing filter to kill off some of the harshness. The sibilance was bordering on painful everytime a word had an S in it. Echo shouldn't be a problem if you're using a proper studio.

    I mention this, because if the production of the dry track isn't up to par, then anything you finish it with won't be. And if they REALLY want people to take Linux seriously, whatever ads are made with this stuff needs to sound every bit as professional as something coming out of a major corporation.

    IAAVOA (I Am a Voice-Over Artist), btw.

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