Re: [Fsfe-uk] Stalls at Marxism 2003

[ian]

On Mon, 2003-05-19 at 13:26, Mike Taylor wrote:
> > Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 09:09:16 +0100
> > From: Chris Croughton <address@hidden>
> > 
> > Would the organisation take a stall at a pro-capitalism or a
> > pro-globalisation rally?  That would be needed for balance, I think.
> 
> In theory I agree with you.  In practice I think it would be a
> complete waste of time, because the pro-capitalism people tend to be
> pro it because they've done well under it and therefore have a lot of
> money.

Hang on a mo, some of us aspiring capitalists haven't got that much
money ;-) Well not sure if I am a capitalist because I'm not that party
political one way or another, but I am pro-competition, I do run two
small businesses and I actually believe I can make more money from free
software than from proprietary. Hope others don't catch on too quickly
;-)

>   Like it or not, the initial thing that draws nearly everyone
> to Free Software is the as-in-beer aspect (and understanding of the
> ultimately more important as-in-speech aspect comes later).  But free
> beer is much more exciting to penniless Marxist than to a wedged-up
> suit-wearer who's probably already whacking it down in an expensive
> wine-bar on a company expense account.

Don't you believe it mate, how do you think the suit-wearer got his
cash? Not by squandering it on stuff he can get for free, that's for
sure ;-). Ok, there is a hearts and minds thing that might be a
no-brainer for someone with no money, but the economic arguments still
make sense if you want your business to have a competitive edge.
Certainly working for us. Just had an enquiry from a LEA via BECTa about
suppliers of GNU/Linux with education knowledge and background. Not many
competing firms on that list at the moment :-) If it was Windows we
would be in the middle of a telephone directory size list.

> Bottom line: we're more likely to find allies in the anit-capitalism
> camp than in the pro-capitalism camp.  The strategic decision that
> needs to be taken is, whether having those particular allies would do
> us more harm than good; and I don't think it's at all obvious (either
> way) what the answer to that question is.

I think its a risk not worth taking. One of the biggest boosts to
GNU/Linux was IBM - not exactly a left wing organisation. Fair enough if
you can be demonstrably even-handed, but one of the things that has held
Linux back is the Geek/Anorak image - until IBM made it respectable for
corporates, now backed by Oracle HP etc. In marketing you have to think
like the people you are marketing to - read up on Emotional
Intelligence, its all in there. I wear a suit when I need to, T-Shirt
and Jeans - hell I'd wear a Monk's habit if it helped empathy with my
audience. This empathy thing is going to be very important if we are to
get GNU/Linux to take over. So I'm not saying we shouldn't market to
marxists, but we have to be careful not to be seen to be marxists -
there is a difference. In some people's eyes that would be as bad as
being seen to be NF. Imagine your views if that was what you perceived
and you will be feeling like a significant minority on associating AFFs
with marxism. With the right approach we can capture them all :-)

-- 
ian <address@hidden>