“We’re Linux” Videos: Placing Freedom Before Practicality?
The Linux Foundation recently announced the winner and runners up of the “We’re Linux” video contest that it sponsored as a response to the well-known promotional campaigns by Microsoft and Apple. The selections are professional and inspiring, but I worry that their focus on “freedom” limits their effectiveness. Here’s why.
The prevailing theme among the selections is the association of Linux with freedom. As the winning video proclaims, “free is to know you have a different option,” and Linux provides that option. A runner-up similarly describes Linux as the operating system for those “willing to be free.”
Freedom’s great–no one’s disputing that. But when most consumers decide which computers to buy, abstract notions of liberty and choice are not high on their list of considerations. They want machines that are reliable, safe, fun and affordable. Ambiguous notions of freedom mean little to people who have no idea what source code is and who associate kernels only with canned corn.
“Linux Pub,” which features an oversized penguin resurrecting a dead PC, is the only video focusing chiefly on the practical benefits of Linux. It’s also the sole selection that mentions Microsoft and Apple explicitly, proclaiming that there’s no difference between the two–a message more likely to resonate with viewers than vague references to freedom and choice.
“Challenges at the Office” briefly highlights Linux’s usefulness for businesses hoping to cut costs–a strategy which misses the mark, since Linux already has a strong presence in enterprise environments–but presents no other concrete representations of the operating system’s practical viability.
Freedom vs. practicality
I became a Linux user for purely practical reasons: in particular, I no longer wanted to pay for software or worry about malware. It was only after I’d spent a while interacting with the Linux community, and learning more about computers, that I began to care about freedom.
I don’t think my experience was unique. There may be a minority of people who made the switch to Linux to satisfy ideological convictions, but the vast majority, I suspect, are only going to be persuaded to leave proprietary software behind if they’re presented with immediate practical benefits that they can understand without having read Richard Stallman’s manifesto.
The videos selected as finalists by the Linux Foundation therefore leave me concerned that the organization’s strategy for promoting free software suffers from a lack of consideration for the needs and desires of normal people, as opposed to GNU hackers. If Linux is going to take over the desktops of the world, its promoters need to center their campaigns upon the operating system’s low cost, reliability, efficiency and aesthetic appeal. Mentioning freedom may not hurt, but it shouldn’t be the chief point of emphasis.
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I see what your saying, but I don’t think its really what they are aiming for. I think a commercial like the “Linux Pub” you linked to would be best for a particular distribution that can be used specifically to give an old computer some life (like Ubuntu
). It’s kind of hard to promote Linux on its own. Gnu/Linux itself is all about freedom.. the distributions use that freedom to mold Linux for its own target audience.
Agreed 100%.
Freedom matters to hackers, to people running hundreds of servers, hosting web apps, administrating networks, and running security systems, which is why it’s so popular in the server/administration world.
Desktop end users, on the other hand, just don’t care about the licensing of their software. They don’t know how to code, so they’re not going to make any modifications to it. It’s nice that they can legally copy it and give it to their friends, but they do that illegally with proprietary software anyway. Monetary cost isn’t even that big of an incentive to switch. People are used to paying for software.
What they do care about is that it’s easy to use, helps them work or play without getting in the way, and makes them look good. Desktop Linux is trailing behind in all of these, which is why it has such a small market share.
I hope more people see this and put work into the things that actually matter.
You’re absolutely right, for almost everyone out there these videos will seem completely pointless. I think even the pretty weird old IBM video on Linux does a better job marketing to the larger audience, at least making people curious.
But actually, for now we don’t need a succesful public video campaign: we don’t need to reach a huge installed base by tomorrow (in fact, we wouldn’t be able to handle that
). So yeah, these videos are preaching to the converted just as much as the “I’m a Mac” videos were (it’s not as if those were comprehensible to just anyone). This helps build a feel-good atmosphere in the community, and that’s the greatest way to market Linux: happy users showing off kick-ass software to their friends.
Excellent post, Christopher. I agree completely. I am often struck by how completely disconnected most Linux users are. The Linux world is a unique subset of a much larger, more diverse computing ecosystem with a wide variety of values and concerns. Trying to market Linux solely for its “freedom” will have absolutely no resonance for those who don’t already know what Linux is. As yungchin points out, it may energize Linux users, but the Linux community has never lacked energy.
I agree with you as well, the winner was just too vague. The Linux Pub simply hammers home the message that if you want to lift the burden of malware then you can, old computer gear can be resurrected and that there is an alternative. It reaches out to those who are fed up with Windows. Also, being in French help give it a global appeal, even though the message did not require any understanding of the language. The subtitles help with the little joke at the end.
I am a great believer in free-as-in-speech software, but that alone will not sway most people who just want to use a computer to get a job done.
Linux Pub should have been the winner.
Totally agree! I run Linux because I find it works better for me. Not because of some half-baked political ideology, or Orwellian notion of “freedom.” Actually, I would say that I use Linux in spite of the politics that surround it.
Also, I thought most of the commercials were, well, just plain awful.
I agree with you 100%.
The Freedom argument doesn’t really mean anything to most people.
Linux needs to promote itself as the cool alternative.
The only video that comes close is Linux Pub.
Bob: I agree 100% I love Linux OS’s not because of the ideology but because it is a great OS.
I’ve just seen the videos, i think they’re all hilarious! but im not surprised, even ubuntu has wacky code names and brown theme. Well, this is what the linux people are, the 1%. I think the comic in Full Circle that illustrated DR Frankeinstein pointing to his creation and said ” This one is harmless, powered by linux” will represent linux very closely.
I agree 100%.
Linux has suffered bad marketing before. First Novell with their “I’m Linux” campaign which was 0% original and really sucky. Then OEMs created the worse interfaces, choose the wrong distros for netbooks and they never did any kind of marketing for he platform. And now the Linux Foundation is going to market something end-users don’t even understand or care about.
A question for you guys:
For those of you who have used Windows or Mac in the past. How many of you read the User Licence Agreements that those operating systems and their apps have?
Before using Linux did you care about freedom?
I didn’t know about it and freedom wasn’t what made me switch it was it’s free cost, security and of course, Compiz.
When I introduce someone to Linux I just show off Compiz and then I teach them that Ubuntu just works.
When I played games on MS-DOS or on a games console before Windows 95 appeared DRM wasn’t a problem. Simple disc checks and serial numbers. Nothing to worry about. Freedom wasn’t a huge issue.
After Windows 95 everything began to change. Fast-forward to Vista and Microsoft has not only bowed to the entertainment industry voluntarily implementing draconian DRM measures which have carried through to Windows 7. Microsoft has also assumed the right and privilege to access our PCs and data whenever Microsoft feels like it. Without prior notice.
Back in the days of MS-DOS 4GW games freedom wasn’t under threat.
The winning videos will work if targeted at the right people or played in the right venue. In the cinema before a movie is the sort of place where those adds will either be well received or won’t do any harm.
Not doing any more harm than the OEMs have already done is a good first step.
Just how do you create an advertising campaign for Linux when not everybody even agrees what Linux is? Some people say it’s just the kernel. Other say it’s the whole OS. These adverts should at the very least inspire some people to ask the question. “What is Linux”?
[...] I hate people who are like that: http://www.workswithu.com/2009/04/21/w…; [...]
There are no hard and fast rules regarding advertising. Its always been about getting peoples attention. Marketing practicality or any other element of a product doesn’t mean much if no one views and/or cares for the ads.
I am not saying one type of advertising is better than the other. I am impressed that there are people out there that are willing to contribute their creativity toward Linux (and FOSS) through advertising. It only gets better with time.
I was looking at a link on the three levels of marketing (http://www.marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_three_levels_of_a_product.htm) that highlights so many other elements of marketing and the fact that Linux bring so much more to the table than can be listed on such a traditional table. I have often alluded to the fact that Linux is transformational in the principles it brings, the core problems it solves, and the transformational contributions to various aspects of business.
I believe that whether you look at Linux as the individual distributions, the kernel, or the core movement, we are just seeing the beginnings. People should go out and make videos of how they use Linux, what it means to them, maybe their contributions to Linux or to the world, and post the videos on YouTube.