Turning off Paid Adverts for Sponsored Media

[Stephen Krenzel]

    I agree, but no one is going to give any money as long as Fedora is
perceived to be backed by Red Hat. I have to admit, Fedora *is* Red Hat's
baby, just as Ubuntu is Shuttleworth's baby, and OpenSuse is Novell's baby.
I don't think that a lot of people would donate to any of these projects,
except for a few exceptions. If OpenSuse started asking for money, people
would laugh, a similar outcome would result with Fedora as well. I'm not
sure what kind of resources it would take, but getting Red Hat or some other
organization to donate a chunk of cash to Fedora so that we could give away
free CDs ( similar to Ubuntu ) is the only way I really see any of these
media plans working. Ubuntu set the "media distribution" bar high, and we
aren't anywhere near it right now. I don't think it is reasonable, nor wise,
to ask someone to sit on a waiting list, especially when they can just go to
a different distribution's site and be guaranteed a cd in a relatively short
period of time. We simply are not being competitive enough in this aspect of
marketing Fedora. This is not to put down the efforts that Fedora has made
thus far, but until someone finds a way to allow free CDs (or a dvd) to be
distributed for free upon request, our efforts will be compared to Ubuntu's
and claimed to be second rate at best.
-Steve

On 5/2/06, Jeremy Hogan <jeremy.hogan at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On 5/2/06, Karlie Robinson <karlie_robinson at webpath.net> wrote:
> >
> >  Both Thomas and Patrick have suggested I make my case for Sponsored
> > Media to the Ambassadors.  I'm also including the Marketing group, so please
> > excuse any multiple emails.
> >
> > The background is that I'm at a loss as to why I can't get anyone to
> > sponsor media to fill the Free Media requests.  I had even gone so far as to
> > pay for adverts on the Yahoo and Google ad networks.
> >
>
> My guess, and it's only a guess, is that if folks are going to  give a
> litte extra, it will be to Ubuntu (who also gives away media) or another
> project that doesn't have someone as big as RH behind it. We know Fedora
> needs it's own fuel, but the rest of the world still sees it as being funded
> by, and directed by, and for the greatest benefit to Red Hat. Which is true.
> And Red Hat also doesn't need the money. Secondly, there are organizations
> that flat out give media away. I don't think it's a matter of folks not
> getting off their wallet, since 6-8 years ago their were more shrinkwrapped
> boxes of RH on admin's shelves than open media cases in the lab. They were
> literally buying the boxed set soley as a means of giving somethig back.
>
> For example, I like PBS, when I donate $100 is it for the hat and mug? Or
> because I want to help. Giving me the option of the "give $100 and you get a
> hat" is just a catalyst to my giving.
>
> It's possible that if you allowed folks to do this for any distribution,
> that they'd pick up more broadly on it.
>
> It's also possible that if RH put RH muscle behind it (e.g. in Red Hat
> Magazine) more eyes would see it (or if RH matched a certain level of
> donation, etc.). Or getting someone in the media or blogosphere to write
> about it. You might try a free Web PR release, along with submitting product
> announcements to niche sites like NewsForge and LinuxQuestions.org.
>
> It's not a bad idea, it just needs to settle into the story we tell as a
> core way of giving back, IMHO.
>
> --jeremy
>
>
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>
>
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