I'm not surprised
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| caitlyn Oct 05, 2009 2:03 PM EDT |
I'm not surprised at all by the results Ken/Helios got from his ads. It's what I would have expected. Actually, I'm surprised he didn't have a larger percentage in his third, most clueless category. Trying to explain what Linux is to the masses that don't know in 30 seconds is almost impossible. I agree with his conclusion that he'd do better in the future running fewer but more targeted 60 second ads exclusively. While he described the effort as a financial failure I think just getting the name Linux out to the masses in the mainstream media does a lot of good. In this case his approach was excellent. Sure, in the short term it didn't pay off. It may have planted a seed that will blossom into better results in the future. |
| tracyanne Oct 05, 2009 5:35 PM EDT |
Yes financially this was a failure, at least if Ken expected to make a profit from less than a month of ads. But I see a success here, and it doesn't surprise me that the majority of the people who want him to install Linux are women, this stoo is my experience. Some people might put my experience down to me being a woman trying to sell to men, but I think it goes much deeper, and I think it deserve more investigation. |
| hkwint Oct 05, 2009 6:02 PM EDT |
"and it doesn't surprise me that the majority of the people who want him to install Linux are women" Apart from "6 sales of which 4 females" not being a statistical significant number, there's something else. Ken tells us it the ad was during the Kim Kommando show, and it seems to me the person in question is a female. Could it be that more females than males listen to the show? Anyway, I'm a bit tired of all these man / woman discussions, so I wish anyone willing to investigate this good luck. As far as I know, 'repeating' ads is one of the most used methods to sell goods/services to people, so maybe when the ads would be repeated the next week, sales would be higher? I'm not sure. |
| jacog Oct 06, 2009 4:24 AM EDT |
Y'all could always resort to this tactic: http://www.xkcd.com/641/ That's right, Linux does not give you cancer! But seriously. No amount of retail-level advertising will work on the "What is an operating system?" crowd. To them there are two types of computer... a "Mac" and "PC". And the latter runs Windows. To them, Microsoft IS the hardware. Targeting OEMs is one way to get to those people, but then these would be people bound to be horribly disapointed when they buy a new Linux PC from WalMart, and pick up a few software packages and games for the kids while they were at it, only to find that none of it works. Education is the key - not to let kids grow up with the idea that Microsoft is the PC. Even if they never learn what Linux is, at least let them understand the nature of PC hardware and software, and how either of the two are replacable. It's the fault of equating brand names to products. It's how people will talk about having an iPod, when they really mean "digital media player". |
| Bob_Robertson Oct 06, 2009 7:02 AM EDT |
> they buy a new Linux PC from WalMart, and pick up a few software packages and games for the kids while they were at it, only to find that none of it works. There it is. People expect what they expect, and anything that's different is going to blow their minds. People generally don't deal with change very well, especially a sea-change such as using a "repository" insted of browsing the software shelves at Best Buy. |
| caitlyn Oct 06, 2009 4:40 PM EDT |
Bob, you're right to a point. If someone is given a compelling reason to consider change then the results can also change. Case in point is business adoption of Linux. The driving factor right now is cost. That's always a factor but the economic downturn (or recession or depression or whatever you want to term it) forces companies to reevaluate based on cost. I have talked to and corresponded with a lot of people who never knew what Linux was until they bought a netbook at Target or Best Buy last year. Most of the ones I know (actually, all but one) have become big believers in Linux as a result. It dependes entirely on what their expectations were going in and whether or not the transition was difficult to them. I'm not saying that what you quoted isn't real and doesn't happen. Of course it does. What I am saying is that it isn't black and white. The key is to come up with compelling Linux products. Asus did that and then abandoned Linux as soon as they got concessions they wanted from Microsoft. |
| montezuma Oct 06, 2009 4:58 PM EDT |
Perhaps it depends on which market you are tackling. If someone is buying a netbook as an el cheapo pc then they will not be pleased to see the techo linux hit them when they take it home and are unable to run the latest kids game. On the other hand I know people who want to use a netbook like a toaster: It should come on almost instantly and perform a certain subset of tasks rapidly (email, browsing and easy word processing). For that crowd linux is ideal. That of course is not to say Linux can't do all the other stuff with some effort (small for us usually). The "average" person however doesn't want to do that. It's like asking them to tweak a few things on their new Camry. The problem is that there is always something that doesn't work straight away (a winblows game; an ipod whatever) under linux and it *has to* under the universal OS windows.. |
| caitlyn Oct 06, 2009 5:50 PM EDT |
It also depends on what the expectations were going in. Most people I know who have netbooks, OS aside, use them as mini-PCs. If somneone was even slightly educated about Linux and doesn't care about the latest kid's game (or is willing to use the ones that exist for Linux) all was well. The one person I know who was dissatisfied, well... Montezuma hit the nail on the head. As has been said before: it's all about education. |
| Bob_Robertson Oct 06, 2009 7:48 PM EDT |
Caitlyn, you're just repeating what I said. Once the expectation is that there will be change, then change can be dealt with. Without that expectation, change merely causes confusion and stress. What ever the motivation is that causes that expectation of change does not really matter. But there must be an acceptance that change is going to occur before change can be acceptable. |
| helios Oct 07, 2009 9:18 AM EDT |
But there must be an acceptance that change is going to occur before change can be acceptable. When the pain threshhold is reached...when people hit the wall on constant warnings, fake anti virus trojans, bank accounts being robbed via Windows Trojans and constant performance problems, then it's been my experience that people are more willing to face some mental exercise than deal with the ongoing hassle of Windows. Geez, there should have been a period in there somewhere. We are finding a large number of people who have contacted us have a seemingly endless tolerance for pain. The fear of increased synapse-firing scares some into circular behavior patterns...but comfortable and ritualistic behavior patterns. Working on how best to break that chain. h |
| caitlyn Oct 07, 2009 1:06 PM EDT |
"...and if you don't love me now
you will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
we must never break, never break the chain." -Fleetwood Mac Sorry, I couldn't resist. Yeah, I think people take a "better the devil you know" attitude towards Windows. The endless anti-Linux FUD about how hard Linux is supposed to be doesn't help either. |
| Scott_Ruecker Oct 07, 2009 2:05 PM EDT |
You didn't do anything wrong Ken, the ads were great. I love hearing Linux advertisements. The issue that you came up against was that; The only difference between Genius and Ignorance, is that Genius has it's limits. And I have been living proof of that statement more than once trust me. What we're fighting is a timeless battle..people have to want to change, get better or be happier on their own even if they know what is wrong and how to fix it. Trying to make them is what keeps bars in business..;-) |
| helios Oct 08, 2009 9:43 AM EDT |
Oh yeah Cait...go straight to the heart... No reason to bring my ex-wife into the conversation. Uh, the conversation about getting people to switch to linux. (TOS violation averted barely) h |
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