Re: openbsd awareness group

[happy emory <emory@hellyeah.com>]

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On Tue, 21 Jul 1998, Louis Bertrand wrote:

> > if there is some sort of "oepnbsd awareness" group or something or people
> > that would like to be doing this, please let me know.
> 
> Hmmm, marketing...  M$ does that real well, free *nix people don't.

I'm not talking about marketing per se.  I'm talking about raising
awareness.  I see all kinds of Linux bumper stickers out here, I wouldn't
mind having some OpenBSD ones available.
 
> Not a flame, Emory, but bumper stickers are only effective where a lot
> of potential users will see it, like a university campus.

Or near the Pentagon, the White House, University of Maryland, George
Washington University, Georgetown, American University, Langley, the
*slew* of Research Labs and computational facilities here, the countless
number of ISP's and their staff, (AOL is about a 10 minute cruise from my
office, i'm 200 yards from mae-east, and uunet and cable and wireless have
their offices on my block too so to speak.)

In my area, there are PLENTY of people to see an OpenBSD bumper sticker
and know what the hell it is.  I get thumbs up about my *license plates*
for crissakes.

Bumper stickers don't have to be on a car.  They can be in a neat little
stack in a computer store.  In a library, a bookstore, etc.  I think that
bumper stickers with a good message about OpenBSD on them would be a good
thing and I think a lot of people would like to have one (or five!)

My desire to have them done by defcon isn't going to happen, and I'm sorry
but I've got a million things going on in my personal life and at work
that take the majority of my time and attention right now.  I think that
before summers end I could have a couple batches run though with some
designs if some designs could get done and catchy slogans forwarded to me
;)

> A better way of getting public attention is to use leverage: you and
> I can talk to dozens of people and get their attention. A magazine
> can reach thousands of subscribers. It works for other OS's -- look
> at all the good press (and printed flame wars) Linux is getting, or
> Macintosh for that matter.

I've been wanting to go to the D.C. Area Linux Users Group meetings for
that reason.  Its really good to meet people with the same concerns I had
about that OS and explain what I did to fix those concerns.

> The idea of a awareness group is great (and, judging from some web
> pages, greatly overdue!). We could use the awareness group to
> collect positive spin on OpenBSD, trade press contacts and re-print
> articles. Maybe a mailing list would help (openbsd-advocacy?).

Yes, yes yes.  I would really like to see an effort in this direction.
After the blurb in Wired, I think the viability and visibility of OpenBSD
has risen significantly.  Its time to start making some Public Relations
(as it were) feasible.

So how about an advocacy group?  What else could be done to further the OS
outside of sheer technological superiority?

> This is where less technically adept users like me could help out.
> (That's a hint to all you back seat drivers out there!)

Why do you think I'm so gung ho about this?  I can't code my way out a
paper bag on a good day ;)

> I don't have a lot of experience writing for magazines, but I'm
> willing to give it a try -- let's say I start with a local

There is a technology section on one of the websites I host here, its
going to start getting a biweekly dose of openbsd things once the site is
underway.  The pthreads issue has been really hanging us up though, I'm
about *this* close to putting up a FreeBSD machine to just serve the
database.  Lovely solution, eh?

> We could also set up public demos (ask local friendly computer shops
> to set up a demo machine with a small display of CD-ROMs).
> Follow-up with a dangerous idea: a hack-this-system challenge!

heh.  
 
> Pardon this overlong essay on media relations, but it bothers me
> that good work is being ignored (or even peed on) because everyone
> is too busy putting the system together.

so louis.  lets do something about it, eh?  


[youdeserveabreakfromcounterfeitsfraudsandfakes]
[getittogethergetittogetherget]			s u b l i m i n a l
					http://gravity.hellyeah.com
pgp key via finger, baybee.		  mailto:emory@hellyeah.com


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