Linux jumps into the ad game
PaulSpoerry | April 11, 2009
The advertisement wars are really heating up, with Microsoft going on the full assault against Apple with several TV advertisements. I think the latest round of Microsoft ads are probably the only really affective ads we’ve seen since Windows 95. It’s about time too, because Apple has been mocking Microsoft with its “I’m a PC” campaign for a while now (and those ads are just genius). Now the Linux Foundation is getting into the game and announced the winner of the “We’re Linux” contest.
The “We’re Linux” contest was set up by the Linux Foundation to encourage Linux users to demonstrate in 1 minute videos why they used Linux, and why others should try it as well. There were 90 contest entries, and a combination of community voting and a panel of judges led to one winner, and two runner-ups. Here’s the winner:
Personally, I find that one to be… sucky.
The runner up video though is actually pretty damned slick:
However, these ads fail in a major way. The average user has no concept of “free softare” or “open source”. They have no concept of the principles that Linux is built on. So while when I watch the ad it makes sense and I think “wow that was a good ad” my mom would just scratch her head and have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about. The ads don’t describe how an open source application could benefit them. They call it “free” but don’t really hit the same nerve as the Microsoft ads… which paint out something easy to understand “this PC is cheaper than this Apple product”. They also fail to even describe what the heck *IS* Linux. Again, makes perfect sense to me but my mom or my sister would have no clue. Still, it’s good to see that the Linux folks are jumping on board… competition is a good thing.
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