> The only ill-effect of these commercials is that they portray linux as
> something solely for the corporate world: a lay-up making, server-farm
> replacing workhorse of an operating system. Even the average-joe
> police investigator in that "They Stole All Our Servers" IBM
> commercial says, "What's a Server?" ... In TV commercials, there are
> very few incidentals.
These are ads for IBM, not ads for Linux. I've spent a fair amount of
time talking with Susan DeKeukelaere, who's in charge of z/390
marketing, and to her Linux is a sales tool for IBM hardware and
services, not a "cause" of some sort.
Get a couple of bumps down the corporate ladder, into the tech crowd,
and you find lots of Linux junkies. But they don't control the ad budget. :)
FYI, and a ray of hope (unless you hate IBM): There is a significant
movement within IBM (spawned by the techie crowd, natch) to push desktop
Linux both internally and as a customer option.
I think we should be happy that IBM mentions Linux at all in its TV
spots. Believe me, when most of your friends/associates are tech-types,
it's easy to forget that only a tiny percentage of the population has
even heard the word. The guys at Bentley's (semi-biker bar in Bradenton
I go to sometimes) sure haven't, even though most of them have computers
and Internet connections (mostly AOL).
- Robin
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