Published at LXer:

Vaughn-Nichols really hits the nail on the head with this excerpt: Why do you think Linux sites, like this one, Linux Today, and many others have Microsoft ads running on them? Because, Microsoft buys the ad space, and the Linux companies almost never do. It's that simple. For a long time, Linux distributors have lived off the Linux news sites, yes, like this one, which report on every small Linux move. Guess what guys. That's great for building a niche. Congratulations, it worked. It also worked for the Amiga and OS/2, It sucks at growing a mass-market. It's also beginning not to work. Oh, more people every month are reading our family of Linux publications. I'm sure that's true of the other Linux news sites. I remember, however, when the new generation of online news sites, like Slashdot, also carried all the big Linux news and a lot of the small stuff. Now, many big Linux stories don't even make Slashdot or Digg. [O.k., I can agree we need to ipmrove our marketing efforts. Some of these are the kinds of things we've been debating about as a community for years. The OEM argument sends chills down my spine in light of the discussions about OEMs here on LXer. - dcparris]

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