Hi there!
After taking some classes in PR, it came down to me that achilles heel of any GNU/Linux distribution is the matter of public opinion. The image that the public has about GNU/Linux in general, or you might call it "stereotype" has to be changed.

So I am looking for a discussion with people knowledgeable in public relations, or at least with ones who have some idea about it.
I know that most of us have good relationships with our computers, we can install a distro or maybe code. Well what about communicating with real people?

So I have couple of questions regarding GNU/Linux to you, LQ reader:

* What would you view as success? What do you want to accomplish?
* How will you measure your success?
* What has been your most successful public relations effort to-date?
* What other types of PR do you do now or plan to do in the future?
* What problems are you facing?
* Who are the decision-makers, and what is the approval process?

It is very important the way the "product" is presented to the public, regardless of how much better, faster or more secure it is.

“Whatever of social importance is done today, whether in politics, finance, manufacture, agriculture, charity, education, or other fields, must be done with the help of propaganda.”

"In our present social organization approval of the public is essential to any large undertaking. Hence a laudable movement may be lost unless it impresses itself on the public mind. Charity, as well as business, and politics and literature, for that matter, have had to adopt propaganda, for the public must be regimented into giving money just as it must be regimented into tuberculosis prophylaxis."

“Big business will still leave room for small business.”

― Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda (1928)

Hi...

No, what will help make Linux succeed, is giving customers a quality product with professional technical support that doesn't make them feel small when they ask a question, by treating them how we would like to be treated.

Regards...

No.. That's what makes a desktop distribution succeed... What makes Gnu/Linux succeed are developers/art-workers/translators/etc.. that do open-source stuff even if most of the time for free (the reword being that they get to use what they made -- which is, by coincidence, one of the reasons why Linus started coding the Linux kernel)...

As for you @gevera.. Not that I don't understand or underestimate what you're doing but you seem to start from the conclusion that most users here are "working" for all the distributions of Linux out there and all they want is to attract other users.. It really doesn't matter for the GNU/Linux community how I define success, nor does it matter what do I want to accomplish.. All that matters is that I accomplish it and share the means of how I accomplished it with others..

PR is, at maximum, good for distributions and is a waste of time of the general GNU/Linux...

As opposed to?

Finding new users for the distributions I use is not my job or my responsibility.

That would apply to Red Hat which seems to be doing a very good job of it but since most general home computer users don't pay for the software nor do they pay for support so there is no reason for them to have any expectations. A customer is generally defined as "someone who buys goods or services from a business". It is not the obligation of volunteers at forums such as LQ to cater to people who want things for little or no effort. When people show some effort and interest when posting questions, they almost always get a positive and helpful response.

Generally for public relations/advertising, you're going to need money to pay for it. In order for the image of Linux people have that you refer to needing to be changed (which is what is Linux) you're forgetting the primary need, MONEY.

1) I would argue pubic opinion is not an issue, since most people do not know Linux exists. An advertising campaign would need to precede or coincide with a public relations campaign. 2) Another zealous convert wanting Linux proselytised to convert the computer heathens.

1) Distributions present their "product" in a way that appeals to the target audience. With many distributions having different set-ups designed for different kinds of users, it would be extremely difficult to design a PR campaign suitable for all of them.
2) Most distributions are non-profit projects without money for PR campaigns, if they wanted to make them.
3) For distributions like Ubuntu and Red Hat that aim for a mass customer base, spending the companies' money on PR campaigns would make sense. For Gentoo, Slackware and Crux, it would not make sense.
4) Distributions that target specific demographics do not need to proselytise. Users find their way to those systems without advertising.

Hi!
I know a little bit about pr, tho I have never taken any formal schooling or done it as a job. I agree, at least in part, with you, that we in the Linux community need to present Linux in a better, more public friendly way. The question is whether we can, 1. overcome corporate opposition, and 2. actually present Linux in a public friendly way.

First then, companies like Microsoft aren't just going to sit back and let Linux take over. They have the funds to launch a far larger pr campaign than any linux distro or user could do. They are ruthless as well, and won't hesitate to bribe their way out of any tight spots they can get in. They hold a monopoly on the market, many people have never even heard of Linux, and think Microsoft or Apple are the only real options, and it will be hard to convince those people that Linux is anything more than a fringe OS meant for geeks. Finally on this point, Microsoft is already trying to absorb Linux and open source, a step I think they always try to take with potential rivals.

The Linux community has always had a hard time reaching out to the public, for many reasons. Many people in the Linux community don't have a user friendly attitude, snarky responses can often be seen on forums. Many of the most user friendly distributions, while they may be easy to use and have many good applications, still don't have the selection of good stable applications that Microsoft has. Gaming is an excellent example, to the best of my knowledge it is extremely hard if not impossible to play Halo, Destiny, or Call of Duty on a Linux box. Really, I guess the shortage of good applications for Linux is yet another sign of major corporations monopoly over the computer industry.

Conclusion: I think you are right, pr is a necessary part of Linux's spread. However, it would be extremely hard to do.

Cheers,
Nbiser

Hi...

I do understand what you're saying but for Linux to expand and receive a sizable market or user share, this model will not work. People expect more than that and I think it's one of the reasons why Linux is not taken as seriously in the end user/desktop "arena," for lack of a better word.

However, treating others how we would like to be treated (i.e., with kindness, respect, etc.,) can be done on LQ or any other Linux forum. That doesn't (and shouldn't) require money.

Regards...

+1

Totally agree.

Regards...

Shortage of good applications? Are games an excellent example or the only example? With very rare exceptions, the people who complain about lack of applications are people who use their computers primarily to play games and those who refuse to use different applications than the ones they are used to, such as refusing to use LibreOffice because it is not Microsoft Office.

However, you are correct that not being able to use software written for Windows is a reason many people will not consider alternatives. The question is, should the alternatives be changed to be compatible with Windows software and no longer be alternatives? It would behove the Linux users who dream of Linux rivalling Windows without becoming a corporate clone of Windows to abandon that foolish fantasy. On the flip side, "Try us. We are different." might be a better PR approach than "Switch to us, because we are the same."

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Linux has succeeded. It's in cars, DVRs, phones, appliances, cloud servers, everywhere but on the consumer desktop and most corporate networks (annoying as Windows is, I must concede that Active Directory is a nice piece of work).

The only it's going to succeed on the consumer desktop is when consumers can easily buy computers with pre-installed Linux, because the average computer consumer has never and will never install an OS.

Period end of story.

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks for pointing this out, on second thought, you are correct. There are plenty of applications out there to replace or supplement standard Windows and Mac OS applications. Gaming is really the only thing that Linux lacks (tho there are still same really good games in Linux). I think your second point is also very relevant. People don't want to change how they do things, so if Linux is going to ever reach the masses it will have to either clone Windows, and engage in more compatibility with Windows, or it will have to simply accept that it is different from Windows, and play it into a strength.

@frankbell You could have a point here. Many people will simply never be motivated or confident enough to install Linux themselves. I know several people who are like this. But, if the Linux community manages to expand to those who are willing to install Linux, if they are informed about it or convinced that it is better than Windows, manufacturers may actually start producing more computers with Linux preinstalled.

I fully agree with the post by dugan, it's not the responsibility of volunteers here or elsewhere or just Linux users. We are users of the software and many make financial contributions also but the responsibility for promoting it lies with the people who make money from it. From Torvalds, Red Hat, Novell, Canonical and others. Until they decide to do something to promote it there really isn't much ordinary users can do expect person to person contact. I suppose people could stand on a street corner or go to a shopping mall and shout out the benefits of Linux but that doesn't seem productive.

I also agree that if Linux systems are more available pre-installed, it will make a difference since the vast majority of home computer users have never and will never install themselves.

Snarky comments on a Linux forum? Any windows or apple forum will get you negative comments if you mention Linux, a lot worse than you will ever see here.

I think it's basically money and I don't think much effort is being made to increase Desktop market share. Several years ago, I saw an article indicating that Red Hat Enterprise Linux had a total, world-wide gross income of $1 billion. That same years the advertising budget for microsoft was $2.4 billion.

I do a [simple] "Tech support"/"Customer Service" type role for a living and, surprisingly*, I'm fairly well thought of by customers and managers. My take on the "Friendliness" of Linux in general is that the necessary issues to be "on everybody's desktop" are just too costly in terms of dumbing down and the addition of cruft (for the moment, at least).
I become worried when I hear Linus say he "wants the desktop" because I know that an awful lot of software is clunky and horrible because it's made "consumer grade" -- I feel a little like that about Android though I know others will differ.


*I am more frank here but I'm hardly personable -- I put it down to good "customer handling skills" learned from courses and tweaked.

Everyone's going to have a different opinion, and many are going to "put forth" on this topic, given the floor. What's the driving reason behind the question? What are your actual, original thoughts, OP? You raised the questions without offering your own thoughts and then haven't returned.

I've said a few times that for Linux to become an everyday thing at the workstation level, it would have to be sold on a large scale by one of the big PC manufacturer's where essentially large businesses would suddenly be forced to use solely Linux for all of their workstations because they chose to buy Dell, or HP branded systems and had little choice due to the product offerings.