Hey all, I'm responding directly to the original poster as well As I am not "The Head of Marketing", I may be wrong, and don't sue me if I am spouting rot. Dear Patrick, Perhaps, before you attempt to understand how marketing in Fedora works, you should understand how Fedora, or any open source project in the world works. The concept of Fedora is Freedom. This doesn't just mean that you can take our product and run away with it. It also means you can modify our product, redistribute it, for free, or even for a fee. Consider this example: Chef Super-Gja has generated a recipe for Vegetable Stew that is AWESOME!!!! Chef Super-Gja decided he wants to help as many people as he can with his amazing Vegetable Stew. so he starts producing 1000 Litres of Stew every day, and giving it away for no cost. He feels that his Stew is Free. However, one day, his friend tells him that he is allergic to the carrots in the stew, and that many people have requested for Stew without carrots in it. Now, Chef Super-Gja gets a great idea. Rather than giving away just the Stew, what he does is give away some stew, as well as the RECIPE for the stew. This way, if everyone has the recipe, then they are allowed to modify the soup, improve it, and customize it to their needs. Pretty soon, his friend comes back. His friend has modified the recipe, and the following side note: by adding a spoon of butter to the soup, it will make the stew a lot thicker. The Chef decides that this suggestion is so good, that he includes it in the original recipe for the soup. Chef Super-Gja realizes that by giving out the recipe of the soup, and not just the soup itself, he has ensured that everyone has access to his soup, and that everyone can easily make it and improve it. By doing this, he has made an entire community of stew cookers, who are all eager to help improve the original recipe. Also, Chef Super-Gja also has ensured that people will be drinking his soup, long after he has retired. This is the way open source works. Here, software is the soup, and the source code (a text document from which software is made) is compared to the RECIPE of the soup. Some companies, like Red Hat, do make money out of open source. They give out the `recipe` for their product. In doing so, they will have a large community behind them. This community will continuously be sending back improvements to Red Hat's soup, and will be in close contact with Red Hat. Not just the Marketing or Support teams, as happens with most companies. But the end user is in contact with the developers. In fact THE END USERS ARE THE DEVELOPERS. Some products, like fedora are not commercial. They are maintained entirely by volunteers, so that it can benefit their neighbor. Now as far as marketing goes. Except for (perhaps) 5 of the ambassadors, none of us are Paid to Promote Fedora. The rest of us, simply use Fedora. We love Fedora, and we want to tell people about it. We want to help spread the message that Fedora symbolizes. That message is the Following: `Fedora Is Free! We want to use Free Software. Not free as in Zero Cost. Free as in Freedom.` We are volunteers who help to promote an idea we believe in, during our Free time. We do not really expect to be rewarded in any way. We are doing it because we know it is the right thing to do. For Further Reading on this Topic, I suggest you read this essay: http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/ Gja On Thu, 2006-03-23 at 14:51 -0500, Alex Maier wrote: > Dear mrs. Maier, > > So if I get this right, seeing that you are indeed head of marketing, > the fedora marketing team focusses their attention on promotion. Is > Fedora Core not adapted to fit the needs of it's members, by lets say > a broad survey, or is it estimated what the target audience wants? > > Does the fedora marketing team have any firm strategic or operational > targets to obtain? > > I'm mostly interested in fedora's marketing strategy since it is very > much different from a regular company. It is indeed non profitable and > you do not have a tangible item. > > Friendly greetings, > > Patrick > > > On 3/20/06, Alex Maier <lxmaier@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Dear Patrick, > > > > Thank you very much for your inquiry. I lead the Ambassadors project, > > and this is what I can speak for :) > > > > The Ambassadors project is a grass-roots initiative mostly centered > > around "getting the word out" to the people outside the Fedora project > > and also helping Fedora Project communicate with Fedora and Linux > > community. > > > > If you have any more questions, please feel free to get in touch with > > me or the entire Steering Committee (Famsco) for more help. > > > > Thank you very much for your interest in Fedora, > > Alex > > > > On 3/18/06, Patrick Windt <paddy.windt@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > Dear mrs. Maier, > > > > > > As an international marketing student, I was wondering in what aspects the > > > marketing department of "fedora" is integrated in the final product release. > > > Or is the marketing of fedora solely based on "getting the word out" ? > > > > > > I would love to get some insight in the marketing plan of Fedora... > > > > > > -- > > > Kind regards, > > > > > > Patrick Windt > > > paddy.windt@xxxxxxxxx > > > > > > -- > > Check out the new content on Fedora Project page! http://fedoraproject.org > > > > > > -- > > Kind regards, > > Patrick Windt > paddy.windt@xxxxxxxxx > > -- > Check out the new content on Fedora Project page! http://fedoraproject.org > > -- > Fedora-marketing-list mailing list > Fedora-marketing-list@xxxxxxxxxx > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-marketing-list -- Fedora-marketing-list mailing list Fedora-marketing-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-marketing-list
