[OSGeo-Discuss] an inspiring presentation on FOSS marketing

[Tim Michelsen]

Hello,
I have been scrolling through the presentations of the 24th Chaos 
Communication Congress [1].

One really caught my eye:
Overtaking Proprietary Software Without Writing Code [2]
Quote:
 >> Free or "Open-Source" software, and in particular Linux, is doing 
extremely well technically. However, it fails to secure a significant 
portion of the protected, lucrative software market, especially for 
end-users. Can Free Software finally make a full entry into our society? 
The main obstacles to overcoming the domination of proprietary software, 
most of them non-technical, require thinking outside of code-writing. 
"Overtaking Proprietary Software Without Writing Code" will relate 
experience gained from the activities of the GNU/Linux Matters 
non-profit, and provide some hands-on advice for community members, 
taking a handful of relevant examples. <<

It was held by a young French FOSS advocate [3] who set out to promote 
the use of GNU/Linux [4], free software [5], different views on 
copyright [6] and the recognition of women in FOSS [7]. I personally 
like the approach of his explanations. Websites that look nice and and 
are very readably because they focus on the important items.
In his presentation he gives some arguments that -- I guess -- many may 
find difficult to follow (quality has a second priority) but 
nevertheless it's worth to watch it and ponder over them. Like Linux 
(the primary goal of his promotion), many FOSS4G programs face a 
monolithic and powerful (in terms of marketing) competitor who holds a 
major share of the market. I think many FOSS4G projects could learn from 
him.

Kind regards,
Timmie


[1] http://events.ccc.de/congress/2007/Main_Page
[2] http://events.ccc.de/congress/2007/Fahrplan/events/2290.en.html / 
http://dewy.fem.tu-ilmenau.de/CCC/24C3/mp4/24c3-2290-en-overtaking_proprietary_software-COMPATIBLE.mp4
[3] http://www.ariadacapo.net/about/
[4] http://www.getgnulinux.org/
[5] http://www.softwareliberty.com
[6] http://www.lifesnotreadonly.net
[7] http://www.gendershouldntmatter.org/