An exciting event for the Community (Linux at the Indy 500)

[helios]

To all the "buntus" This is an official Press release...not spam. If you can get this to Mark or know a way I can get in touch with him, I think this is something we need to all take advantage of. I ask that this large and ever-growing community get involved with this. We have a real chance here to make a difference. - helios

Tux is entering the Indianapolis 500 http://www.tux500.com

That is the hope and that hope can become reality...but then again, that's up to you.

"Linux" as a viable desktop alternative to Microsoft Windows IS ready for the Desktop, both for The Enterprise and the Home User. The point is we need some advertising exposure. LINUX in general needs advertising exposure. The Boxset Corporations have, to a degree, started to advertise but Linux as represented by the rest of us has not. To kick off the Official "LIFE project", (Linux is for Everyone), and several different advertising campaigns, The Community is banding together to sponsor a car in the Indy 500. Go to Tux500.com for details and see what is in store for the community through this effort. The Boxset Corporations will be given a chance to participate as well, so their donations are an important part of this effort.

Here is the official announcement here http://blog.lobby4linux.com/archives/116-Linux-Users-Start.....Your.....ENGINES!.html or here
http://tux500.com/geeklog/

This is a magnificent opportunity for each Linux Distro as well as the Linux community at large. It is time to get our motors started and pop the clutch on this baby. Let's open 'er up and see what she can do. The finish line is quickly approaching and we don't want to be left at the starting line.

Tux500.com

[justin whitaker]

Wow. That is such a great idea! I wonder if they will make the donation level.

:popcorn:

[Albi]

Are you sure Linux would appeal to the type of people who watch racing?

[kwaanens]

I have noe interest in Indy500, but:

This is cool! Hope you guys succeed!

Nevermind the nay-sayers (I'm sure there will be plenty)!

[Shay Stephens]

I think that would be a waste of money. It would be better to advertise in a venue that would have more impact than yet another colorful logo on a car going 200 mph past the camera.

I would be opposed to the idea. That money would be better spent in development or supporting some worthy projects. I don't want my money going to a rich race car driver.

[helios]

"Are you sure Linux would appeal to the type of people who watch racing?"

LOL...you are kidding, right? If the owner of one of the top 500 Fortune companies in America switched his entire corporation over to Linux because he saw it on my vanity license plate...well...what do you think? with over 6 million people watching the race and 400 thousand butts in the seats reading the Linux sponsorship byline in the program. It's a pretty cool thing.

For those who argue their money would be better spent on another venue, I would pose the question...Just how many opportunities do you want? You've been offered hundreds and you've turned up your noses at all of them. You simply want others to do the work for you...but that's ok...you're in good company...five percent of any group usually carries the weight of the rest. That's just the way it is. The only shame is that you will benefit from others hard work and won't have done a thing to contribute.

See you at the races.

h

[helios]

Wow. That is such a great idea! I wonder if they will make the donation level.

:popcorn:


A five dollar donation at tux500.com would help answer that question, LOL

h

[prizrak]

Well that's one way to kill my favorite OS :(

[richbarna]

Wouldn't it be ironic if on the first day out, the car just .....crashed ;)

[TravisNewman]

#-oThat's just bad Rich.

But yeah, the irony would just be too much!

[aysiu]

What ever happened to the Linux radio commercial?

[richbarna]

#-oThat's just bad Rich.

But yeah, the irony would just be too much!

I know Travis, I just couldn't resist it Lol! I remember seeing a ****** car too, THAT got some great laughs, but i'll save those I think :)

[picpak]

I remember seeing a ****** car too, THAT got some great laughs, but i'll save those I think :)

I bet it goes 0 to 60 just like that...

ok, I'll stop.

[FuturePilot]

Wouldn't it be ironic if on the first day out, the car just .....crashed ;)

:lolflag:

Would not be cool though#-o

[FoolsGold]

I'd enjoy seeing the Microsoft/Windows car crash into the Linux car, taking them both out of the race, then the drivers of each car get out and start punching each other.

At which point the race is halted, the drivers from the Apple and BeOS cars come over and pull the battling drivers apart. Linux driver accused the Microsoft driver of deliberately ramming Linux, causing sabotage, while Microsoft spills its own rhetoric.

In the distance, the FreeBSD driver just shakes his head at the pathetic display and drives off. The AmigaOS driver cries about how he wasn't part of the fight to begin with.

[ubuntu27]

I'd enjoy seeing the Microsoft/Windows car crash into the Linux car, taking them both out of the race, then the drivers of each car get out and start punching each other.

At which point the race is halted, the drivers from the Apple and BeOS cars come over and pull the battling drivers apart. Linux driver accused the Microsoft driver of deliberately ramming Linux, causing sabotage, while Microsoft spills its own rhetoric.

In the distance, the FreeBSD driver just shakes his head at the pathetic display and drives off. The AmigaOS driver cries about how he wasn't part of the fight to begin with.

Hmm... Cliché?

[FoolsGold]

Hmm... Cliché?

Oh really, ya think? :lolflag:

[bonzodog]

If you can get this to Mark or know a way I can get in touch with him....<SNIP>

To contact mark just email him:

either;
mark@canonical.com

or

mark@ubuntu.com

[beefcurry]

good idea, but really I've never heard of the Indy 500 O.O......

[ArtificialSynapse]

Indiana thing. . . not very exciting.:)

[mstlyevil]

good idea, but really I've never heard of the Indy 500 O.O......

The Indy 500 is an event where us rednecks drink beer, check out the babes and move our heads in continuous circles for hours on end. It is the rednecks favorite pastime after watching WWE RAW on Monday nights.

Gawd I love being from the south!

:twisted:

[Flying caveman]

Hey, there's some guys who want to sponsor a Linux Indy car for the Indy 500.

http://www.tux500.com/

I got the tux racer theme in my head and sent then $15.00

Just thought I'd spread the word and see if anybody else would want to help out.:D

Read the whole story before you ask "why don't they sponsor a NASCAR or Formula 1 car?"#-o

[aysiu]

Someone beat you to it. I've merged yours with the other thread.

[alinuxfan]

I gave my money.
You see who sponsors some of those cars?
Heck, I'm all about finding a way past the catch 22 that we have been facing...
If this thing can help, let's at least try it!

alinuxfan
:D :D

[mykalreborn]

we do this and i'll bet in a few months time windows will release their indianapolis500 racing car. mark my words. :p

[Metz]

Apparently not. The very joke made earlier in this thread (about it 'crashing') is exactly the reason Microsoft won't sponsor motorsport. The closest they've got, I beleive, was a round-the-world racing yatch, I think. (With the expection of sponsorship via XBox brand)

[3rdalbum]

I used to work for a Betta Electrical store. Betta Electrical sponsored the V8 Supercars. This was the only advertising they did.

Did this lift Betta Electrical's profile? No. Since Betta Electrical didn't actually advertise in the usual ways, people saw the company as being irrelevant; and since the company's public profile was so low, suppliers didn't consider the stores worth supporting.

Betta Electrical went broke late last year during the racing season.

Folks, it costs a lot to sponsor motorsport, and unless your product is directly related to cars, it's a complete *jup jup!*ing waste of time and money. I'd rather the money went to real advertising or to hiring developers to reverse-engineer proprietry drivers.

[daniel of sarnia]

The Indy 500 is an event where us rednecks drink beer, check out the babes and move our heads in continuous circles for hours on end. It is the rednecks favorite pastime after watching WWE RAW on Monday nights.

Gawd I love being from the south!

:twisted:

Hey you make it sound to be as bad a NASCAR, that's just not fair :lolflag:

I think I agree with 3rdalbum though, my Dad and for a short time, myself were in competitive drag racing. It is really expensive and to be honest I really don't think 98% of advertisers get their moneys worth, if that.

[Shay Stephens]

Folks, it costs a lot to sponsor motorsport, and unless your product is directly related to cars, it's a complete *jup jup!*ing waste of time and money. I'd rather the money went to real advertising or to hiring developers to reverse-engineer proprietry drivers.

Absolutely, relevancy needs to be considered when choosing how to advertise. I just don't see the relevancy with race cars. It is a total waste of money that could be much more ffectively spent than just making some racing team that much richer.

It will be like pouring money down a sewer...oooh look how pretty it is while it falls...oh, that didn't last long, and now all my money is gone!

[ubuntu27]

I used to work for a Betta Electrical store. Betta Electrical sponsored the V8 Supercars. This was the only advertising they did.

Did this lift Betta Electrical's profile? No. Since Betta Electrical didn't actually advertise in the usual ways, people saw the company as being irrelevant; and since the company's public profile was so low, suppliers didn't consider the stores worth supporting.

Betta Electrical went broke late last year during the racing season.

Folks, it costs a lot to sponsor motorsport, and unless your product is directly related to cars, it's a complete *jup jup!*ing waste of time and money. I'd rather the money went to real advertising or to hiring developers to reverse-engineer proprietry drivers.

Yeah, we should donate our money to any OpenSource projects not to this

[slayerboy]

I donated....not because I watch Indy 500 and want to see Linux on there. Not to say that Linux is more popular now.

I donated because when was the last time a COMMUNITY put itself on a race car? We're not talking a year long sponsorship guys, we're talking one race, but it will pretty much have exposure for the whole month. Media covers this race like crazy. You may not watch it, but you will most likely hear about it if you watch the news.

Gratned, the whole point of this is to bring more attention to Linux. This is the thing. You're hitting fans of racing AND corporations. You're NOT advertising to the fans, or that shouldn't be the focus. You are advertising directly to all of the other sponsors and companies.

I guarantee you, if this goes through, You're pretty much going to hear "linux...Linux....Linux" while watching the racing news.

Guys, it's $5 to donate, that's all it would take. Yes, maybe it would be better to give to the developers. But, let's put it another way. This could bring MORE developers to Linux because more CEO's watch this race because of sponsorship. This means big companies could end up deciding to switch to Linux. This brings more people to help develop the companies software that needs to be done, possibly with the effect of these developers trying to volunteer their time and help with code.

I think this is a win-win for us. Even if the car explodes on the first lap, you've had a month of exposure.

[Fascination]

* The top contributor will be a member of the Pit Crew on Race Day
* Two random contributors will get a ride in a two-seater Indy Car
* The second highest contributor will get a Linux server or notebook
* The third highest contributor will get a video iPod

The third highest gets an iPod? I hope it comes with something like gnu-pod already installed on it? :P

"Linux has made it to the Indy 500! Here, have an Apple product to celebrate!"

[mykalreborn]

"Linux has made it to the Indy 500! Here, have an Apple product to celebrate!"
lol, that's such a good point

[vsandz]

Well here's my 2 cents, I think the Indy500, although a very good idea, misses the point.

1. In that for a contribution or 'community investment' that big, the target audience is very small. I

mean thing about it, how many Linux users/'to-be-users' in America v/s. Total number of Linux

users world over. I'm not saying Indy500 is watched EXCLUSIVELY in America but c'mon it is not

football/soccer if ya know what I mean.

2. Now consider how many of these audience would say to themselves, "hey that car won and

i'm going to ditch my favorite/long-time OS and try to figure out how to use this Linux thingy"

without having a clue of what the whole movement is about. I think at this point you are looking at

a very very small number.

3.And most importantly, for an organization/community based on entirely different and such

beautiful principles (GNU), how is Linux going to be different from any other product on the

market ? (I'm talking marketing/advertising ideology here).

All in all, consider this ... imagine something like "I am free ... free as in freedom ... (insert

something interesting here) ... LiFE" on the most mediocre brazilian national football player's

jersey ... the audience of that ... well would be millions at least ... and IMHO i think it fits the

ideology purrfect.

PS: No offense intended to any of you mates ... this is just my very own opinion ... maybe Linux

means different things to different people.

[Shay Stephens]

As a photographer there are a few advertising venues that are worthless to me. One of them is radio. Advertising on radio, for a photographer, is like pouring money down a sewer. It might sound cool, and I might have a great ad, but most people don't respond to a photographers radio ad. I would be better off if I bought candy instead.

Linux is not a single go-to company that a car sponsorship is going to benefit. Who do the CEO's contact when they see the tux car driving around and round and round the track? What product does Joe Bob go out to buy at the Piggly-Wiggly? There is just not a good enough connection with the car sponsorship and action.

Trying to sell a concept in an advertising venue that focuses on products and companies is a wasted effort in my view.

[helios]

I have contacted Mr. Shuttleworth through his personal assistant twice in the past four days. If anyone knows how to get word of this to him, you might want to give it a shot. -

How Much More REAL do you want.

Many of you say you are waiting for this project to get REAL before you decide to give it a dollar and thirty four cents of your money. I'm talking about this community putting a car in the Indy 500. Well, you are not going to get much more real than the actual website of the Indy 500 itself. http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/

I am having trouble believing that the members of this community cannot see how history-changing this effort is and the impact it will have on Linux as a whole. Then again, if the community is willing to "ho-hum" this event, then I suppose they deserve the second-class citizen status they currently maintain. This event can launch Linux onto the hard drives of millions.

Your move.

http://www.tux500.com

[spinflick]

I'm not having a go at your suggestion.......but......your American right? Most peeps outside America wont see it.

[Shay Stephens]

I can't believe how much of a waste of money that is going to be. It is no wonder Mark is ignoring it, he sees it for the waste it is too.

[Teg_Navanis]

This isn't about who can shout the loudest. Neither spamming nor belittling the community will help you.

I think spreading the word among friends and co-workers is worth more than investing in old-style marketing. You can't beat Microsoft in conventional marketing, they have far more money to throw at it. Someone who has no friend to introduce them to Linux will be easily discouraged from using it by Microsoft's marketing machine. http://www.humanist.de/erik/rza/msad.jpg

I honestly can't imagine this to be a history-changing event, sorry.

[rai4shu2]

I'm not a big Indy 500 fan, but I think raising awareness in this way is not a bad idea. Good luck finding more sponsors.

[Fascination]

Would it not be more logical to take that planned $350000 you hope to raise and channeling it into a charity or similar? Something like that would get a lot more media coverage and appeal to a much wider audience.
I know I would be happier paying money into a cancer research fund as a 'gift' from the linux community as opposed to seeing a race car with a tux logo on the side of it. :)

[Ender Black]

I don't know about sponsoring an Indy Car (viewership of America's Race has been in a real decline) but, remember the shot in the arm when FireFox pulled that 2 page add in the New York Times...circa 2003-4? I could certainly support that. And if I remember right, everyone who had their name on that add contributed to the add price and FF took the remainder as revenue.

[Nils Olav]

That's stupid.

[Anthem]

Sounds like he's got a good personal assistant.

[STREETURCHINE]

I have contacted Mr. Shuttleworth through his personal assistant twice in the past four days. If anyone knows how to get word of this to him, you might want to give it a shot. -

How Much More REAL do you want.

Many of you say you are waiting for this project to get REAL before you decide to give it a dollar and thirty four cents of your money. I'm talking about this community putting a car in the Indy 500. Well, you are not going to get much more real than the actual website of the Indy 500 itself. http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/

I am having trouble believing that the members of this community cannot see how history-changing this effort is and the impact it will have on Linux as a whole. Then again, if the community is willing to "ho-hum" this event, then I suppose they deserve the second-class citizen status they currently maintain. This event can launch Linux onto the hard drives of millions.

Your move.

http://www.tux500.com

sponsoring a car in a race that only 1 country gets to watch is going to raise the interest in ubuntu.! how?
i live in australia the indy 500 is not even news worthy over here.
if you want to put something in a race,, superbikes ,formula1 or even bathurst 1000 over here has an international following.
no donate the money to a good charitable cause would do more good for ubuntu

[maniacmusician]

As others have said, this may be good advertising, but the advertising gained is not proportional to the money spent. There are much, much better things you can do with that amount of money. Raise it and give it to the kernel devs, or to some of the volunteers that work on Ubuntu everyday (like the Xubuntu, Kubuntu, or Ubuntu Studio developer teams)

[Henry Rayker]

Racecar sponsorship is fine for products that appeal to the viewers of the race...Jack Daniels, Budweiser, alcohol in general, car parts, car manufacturers, cereal, general stuff everyone needs etc etc etc.

One half of my extended family watches these kinds of races and ONE of them owns a computer. Given that this is about 1:10, the odds aren't that great.

It would make MUCH more sense to take out an ad in the New York Times or even the Google page (if such a thing were available, that is). Taking out ads in the form of, essentially, a sports team is foolish...do you want to advertise for gay rights on the back of a football jersey? Won't have much of an effect, I'm sure.

[spinflick]

It would make MUCH more sense to take out an ad in the New York Times or

I give up on this one

[Nonno Bassotto]

I sometimes ask myself if american people realize they are not the whole world. This thread is a perfect example...

[samjh]

Indy 500 is hardly watched outside of America.

If Ubuntu were to sponsor a racing team, it would be more worthwhile putting a logo on a Formula 1 car (lots of tech companies are doing that -- Intel, AMD, HP, etc.). Endurance racers, like the FIA GT series are also popular targets for tech companies.

If it HAD to be American, I'd rather see a huge Ubuntu and tux logo on the spinnaker of a front-running yacht in the America's Cup.

[plb]

A waste of money imho. Ask yourself this, what group of people watch indy 500? 2nd, do you think this group would at all be interested in Linux?

[rai4shu2]

You know, not all americans are hate-spewing idiotic mush brains like a certain president I could name.

[ComplexNumber]

I sometimes ask myself if american people realize they are not the whole world.
i think it may be because america is such a huge and (largely) self contained nation, that virtually everyone in america has no need to be aware of anything else that goes on in the world elsewhere. not everyone in america is like that, though.

i think this indie 500 sponsored event may wll turn out to be a good thing because america seems to be overwhelmingly dominated by microsoft, whereas europe and asia are much less so.

[thenixedreport]

I keep reading posts of "This isn't relevant..." etc, etc.. I disagree. Imagine millions of television viewers seeing a Linux logo, especially the Ubuntu logo, on the side of a racing car. Here's the thing. If you donate, you get to vote on what distro you think is the best. If Ubuntu gets the most votes, guess what? The Ubuntu Logo will get plastered onto a race car to be seen by millions of people.

What'll happen then? People may see it and wonder, "What in the world is Ubuntu?" Some may go out and research it for themselves. Some may even order a free CD online. The whole point of the project itself is to plant the seeds into the minds of everyone watching that race, including, and especially, the CEO's of many corporations who also sponsor other cars. How did Microsoft become so successful? Did they have the best products on the planet (yes, go ahead, and choke back laughter on that one... no wait... go ahead and roll on the floor... that is a good one indeed)? Or was it that they had the best marketing strategies at their command? So how in the world could people know that they have a choice for an Operating System? With projects such as this. If people aren't aware of another choice, or if they remain only vaguely aware, then the big man can lie to them with their so-called "facts" all day long, and those only vaguely aware will take them as gospel.

It's only $1.34 USD (the 34 cents pays Pay-Pal... so they can get a full dollar) at the very least. This is an exciting opportunity to have the name seen. Keep in mind that if people recognize the Ubuntu name, then adoption of Ubuntu could become more widespread. You've already got the system in place so that people can write documents, send e-mail, browse the web, print, and more (basic functions). All that is needed now is mass recognition.

[Erik Trybom]

Um... So the Indy 500 is a pretty big thing over there, right?

I've only heard of it because Kenny Bräck won it once. It's not generally aired in Europe unless you have special sports channels.

Actually I think more people here in Sweden have heard about Linux than Indy 500.

[thenixedreport]

It's a pretty big deal in the US. While I did read of one comment saying it's not exciting, they've heard of it, which proves my point.

Promotion and adoption doesn't seem to be a problem around other areas of the globe. It's the US that's having trouble due to one thing: Microsoft. It's their turf, or so they think, which is why they have (or perhaps had?) the upperhand marketing-wise. With the recent blunder known as Vista (http://www.badvista.org), this would be a good chance to capitalize on their mistake, big time.

[thenixedreport]

i think it may be because america is such a huge and (largely) self contained nation, that virtually everyone in america has no need to be aware of anything else that goes on in the world elsewhere. not everyone in america is like that, though.

i think this indie 500 sponsored event may wll turn out to be a good thing because america seems to be overwhelmingly dominated by microsoft, whereas europe and asia are much less so.

Thank you. The thing to keep in mind is that Microsoft has always had dominance in the States, not around the globe (like they would have the Microsofties believe). This whole thing would at least get the attention of CEO's of large corporations, some of whom are doing business on the international level. Now seeing as how Vista has essentially flopped (http://www.badvista.org), this would be a great way to capitalize on their mistake.

America is not the whole world. That is quite true. There are many wonderful nations out there, like Australia which is about as big as the continental U.S. (I wish manufacturers would quite mis-leading us with those globe models they produce), has the cleanest drinking water, and people who don't take (insert favorite word for garbage) from anybody. There's also Japan, France, Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, and a load of other wonderful places that I'd like to one day visit. Sorry about going way off topic here. It just hurts me personally when I read something like this:


I sometimes ask myself if american people realize they are not the whole world.

I digress...

Here's a suggestion. If there are major events that are highly publicized and either:

1.) Let other entities/individuals act as sponsors (like sporting events)

2.) Sell advertising space

Why not start a project in your country aimed for that event similar to tux500, take donations, and have your favorite distro's logo seen by a good number of people. Word of mouth is a great way to get things out, but even AMD takes out ads every now and then.

[Spr0k3t]

Indy 500 is hardly watched outside of America.

You said it... it amazes me that more people in america tune into that "American Idull" show than something "as big as" indy 500. Last time I made the effort to watch any kind of race I was 13, and my pinewood racer came in second.

I say those interested in putting a name out there for the linux community need to put together a viable and charitable cause. Build an internationally recognized 501(3)c organization dedicated to something like cancer research or the controversial stemcell research and pull 5% off the top for organizational stipend. If it was for a worthy cause, I'd dedicate some time and money towards it. I mean seriously, which section of the newspaper do you want to be in? The sports page or the front page?

Last year I donated 120 hours of my time towards helping the CP foundation (cereberal palsy). That's equiv to a little over four grand. So if it's a worthy cause, I'll donate in a heartbeat.

[rajeev1204]

love cars ....... love ubuntu

great idea even though i aint american

[EdThaSlayer]

Indy?I haven't heard that term for months! No one watches it, maybe you will get a 100,000 people to put linux on their hard drives but thats it, nothing more, and all that cash got wasted for no good reason.

[spinflick]

Here's a suggestion. If there are major events that are highly publicized and either:

1.) Let other entities/individuals act as sponsors (like sporting events)

2.) Sell advertising space

Ok then I know of a highly publicized major sporting event with over 130 years of history and watched by over 50 million people WORLDWIDE. It's on every May, dont know? never mind 99.9% of the "worlds" population dont know when/what Indy500 is either. ;)

[PartisanEntity]

Sorry, I too am not American nor do I live in America and the Indy 500 means nothing to me and probably means just as much to most Europeans.

It may be a big event in your country, but I think you will have a hard time raising that kind of money for such a local event.

Donating linux driven computers to orphanages, to schools in poverty stricken or war torn areas is much better IMO.

Even donating linux driven computers to schools and institutions in the well off 'western' world is a great idea.

Donating money to the developers is yet another great idea.

[jgrabham]

Why not donate money to a childrens hospital. The "Linux ward" sounds much better than some car in a race hardly anybodys heard of!

[Fascination]

Whenever I think of the Indy 500 the first thing that comes to mind is "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey" when at the end you see the magazine cover saying, "Grim Reaper wins Indy 500" with the quote from Death, "I never knew I could run so fast!" ;)

[saulgoode]

Why not donate money to a childrens hospital. The "Linux ward" sounds much better than some car in a race hardly anybodys heard of!

Perhaps because collecting donations premised on something other than what you spend the money is considered FRAUD and punishable by sentences of 15 years in federal prison.

If YOU wish to start a campaign to solicit donations for a children's hospital, go right ahead. There's no need to torpedo someone else's idea on how to improve contributions to the development of Linux.

[migla]

Surely, the cost of advertisements is related to the number (and power) of people it will reach, so money spent on indy 500 should be about as efficient as money spent on international soccer (edit: i.e "football", as it actually is called in most parts of the world) ...

I don't know if either audience is anything linux would want, but just pointing out that you mainly pay for the number of eyeballs.

[nave.notnilc]

Does anyone ever watch the news? (Or do you guys just get it all off the internet? A more informative route, but still...) They love to go on and on about absolutely ANYTHING out of the ordinary, and the Linux community sponsoring a car will undoubtably be mentioned. The average Joe hasn't even heard of Linux, so simply putting our name out there is a great first step.

Is this the right place to advertise? Well, Formula 1 is probably far more expensive, and I don't know if we want to advertise in Nascar. Are there other avenues of advertising? Yes, but sporting events are one of the best ways to insure that tons of people will see the advertisement. I like the choice of the Indy 500 because it is by far the most popular race of the year (in the IRL), and the event actually starts weeks before the race. Almost everyone shows up days, or weeks, early to watch practices and qualifying. I have gone to it every year, for years, and the advertising is extremely prominent and unadvoidable. Whenever an announcer mentions a car they always mention the main sponsor.

In summary, I think this is a great idea, and I will do my part to get this off the ground.

[thenixedreport]

Well, I got an e-mail response from none other than Mark Shuttleworth himself. Here's what he had to say:


I saw this widely reported, it's a very cool initiative. It's not something I would sponsor personally or via Canonical, but I do think it would be cool if as a community we're able to raise that amount and make a splash at the event!

Mark

[Spenser_Gilliland]

I donated 5 dollars. Why? cuz i like racing, i like Linux and im a college student(no $). Plus, honestly something has to be done. DRM and trusted computing are almost here.

[jgrabham]

Perhaps because collecting donations premised on something other than what you spend the money is considered FRAUD and punishable by sentences of 15 years in federal prison.

If YOU wish to start a campaign to solicit donations for a children's hospital, go right ahead. There's no need to torpedo someone else's idea on how to improve contributions to the development of Linux.

2 probs with me going to prison for 15 years
1)Im english, so your federal laws dont apply to me
2)Im 14 so laws apply even less

And are actually sugesting that the indy 500 is more important than childrens healthcare?

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY
I didnt mean the money that was raised for the indy 500 i meant someone should start something to raise money for something which helps people whist promoting linux.

[samjh]

I'm still sceptical.

For a marketing project to be successful - especially for small advertisers - there has to be closure. Where is the closure in this project? What follow-up effort is there to secure sales/downloads for potential customers?

Take F1, for example. Intel sponsors the BMW Petronas team. Currently the team is the 3rd fastest behind McLaren and Ferrari. Spectators and viewers see massive INTEL logo above the engine compartment. Then they go to a computer shop, and see INTEL logos displays all over the computers being sold. Same thing with AMD, who sponsors Ferrari.

So for this little project, people see Linux stamped to the cooling pods of this Indy car. They go to the store and see... Windows. OK, let's try the internet... what website to go to for information on Linux? Distowatch? Kernel.org? And then there are dozens of distros vying for popularity, which does nothing to assure the potential customer that Linux is worth spending time on.

Will there be, for example, a booth at the race, offering free copies of Linux distros, and a "get started" handbook? Promotions for winning a Linux-powered desktop computer or laptop? These are just follow-up ideas that augment the actual advertising on the car, and create opportunities for closure.

Instead of generically branding the car with "Linux", why not a particular distro... say "Fedora Linux", or "OpenSuse Linux" (possibility with Novell also displayed), or even "Ubuntu Linux" (with the Ubuntu logo prominantly drawn as a watermark under "Ubu..")? That will at least provide potential customers with something to search for.

I don't think this project has enough benefit-vs-cost factor to be worth spending money on at the moment.

[aysiu]

I'm still sceptical.

For a marketing project to be successful - especially for small advertisers - there has to be closure. Where is the closure in this project? What follow-up effort is there to secure sales/downloads for potential customers? Well, it's slightly better thought-out than the radio ad Helios was promoting last year (http://blog.lobby4linux.com/archives/65-How-A-Frustrating-Failure-Might-Have-Saved-Linux..html):
When the initial plan was presented and the different committees were formed, "This Is Linux" began to look like a viable project. It would start in Austin as Linux4Austin. A sound studio that produced their work on 100% Linux software offered their facilities for free. Professional radio talent sent in their "resumes" in mp3 and OGG format, and a an email address set up for this project quickly filled to capacity. Over 300 scripts were sent in, some of them complete commercials ready for the "on the air" sign. Queries from Argentina, Honduras, Germany, Luxembourg, and dozens of cities in the United States wanted information on how they could get their project started. Any question or request for information was handled quickly. Lobby4Linux received more hits in 6 days than it had gotten in the previous 45. However, there was one question...one issue we could not deal with.

"Where do we send the money?"

We couldn't answer them. While the initial plan was for each city or locale to set up their own finance committee, it soon became apparent this would not work. We couldn't get anyone to even form the first one. Thousands of dollars hung in cue as we struggled to find an answer. We contacted multi-billion dollar corporations, commercial Linux enterprises, software manufacturers, accounting and legal firms. Many did inquire initially to the request by asking for more information. Once they realized the time and resources needed to administrate this fund and the record-keeping that it would require, we never heard back from them again.

In all, 121 pen and ink or email requests went out to these entities. Eighteen bothered to answer, and if you haven't guessed...each answer was no. The remainder neglected to answer at all.

Slowly, the individual emails tapered off to nothing. People who had mocked this effort took the opportunity to greedily twist the knife. They took pleasure in reminding everyone that they were right all along. This thing didn't work, would never work and those who had supported it were idiots. If it had not failed completely, "THIS Is Linux" had suffered a terrible setback.

Thank (insert your Deity of choice here). It's the best thing that could have happened for GNU/Linux and the Linux Community.


If we had succeeded in generating even half the radio and television exposure projected, it's quite possible we would have snuffed the life out of Desktop Linux. Our efforts may very well have blown the one good chance we have at making GNU/Linux a viable alternative to Windows. It wasn't Linus that taught us this. It wasn't Kano or Texstar or Warren...it wasn't anyone directly responsible for the development or proliferation of Desktop Linux. No one in the Linux Universe brought this to our attention.

[jgrabham]

Well, it's slightly better thought-out than the radio ad Helios was promoting last year (http://blog.lobby4linux.com/archives/65-How-A-Frustrating-Failure-Might-Have-Saved-Linux..html):

OMG hes full of himself

[rai4shu2]

Sorry, no. Linux isn't the clapper.

Linux at the Indy 500 is a fine idea. Who are we to say what people should use their money for? It's theirs. Let them use it or abuse it how they want.

[Nils Olav]

...Who are we to say what people should use their money for?...

Things capable of some level of reason.

[rajeev1204]

The ubuntu powered indy car just won . When they asked the driver how good the car

had been he replied "IT JUST WORKS":D

[cstudent]

NASCAR would reach more people in the US.

[thenixedreport]

But it's too late to become a sponsor for a Nascar team. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (editor@thenixedreport.com). I see that this thread with another was merged. That's alright. It's cool with me.

While the goal seems to be quite high, there is still a chance to at least get a logo on the car. For each donation, you get to vote for your favorite distribution. If Ubuntu were to get the most, an Ubuntu logo would go on there.

My apologies for getting upset earlier.


Who are we to say what people should use their money for?

True, true, and who am I to say what ideas you guys should support or not? We all have a choice here, and that's the most important thing to remember. The whole idea behind the project is to let individuals who may be watching the event on TV, listening on the radio, and watching the race from the track that they do indeed have a choice other than Windows Vista. Also, such a thing would let the CEO's of other sponsoring companies know that they have a choice in computing platforms. It could very well plant the seeds.

[Erik Trybom]

I'm against this project because it will never work. There will not be nearly enough money raised. Even there was, you still need to have team working full-time with the project. I just don't see that happen.

There are other kinds of advertising that would get us a lot more attention for the money. I can't help but feel that this project is not intended to raise Linux popularity but rather to get a car in the Indy 500. I think it would be cool too, but it might not be the best interest for the Linux community.

[thenixedreport]

I'm against this project because it will never work. There will not be nearly enough money raised. Even there was, you still need to have team working full-time with the project. I just don't see that happen.

There are other kinds of advertising that would get us a lot more attention for the money. I can't help but feel that this project is not intended to raise Linux popularity but rather to get a car in the Indy 500. I think it would be cool too, but it might not be the best interest for the Linux community.

Well, there is only one thing for me to do then: prove you wrong. It looks like I've got some work to do.

[Soarer]

Something which AFAIK has not yet been mentioned...

Major companies sponsor sporting events. race cars, cultural events etc. mostly NOT for the advertising. They invite their major customers and prospects out on a jolly to the event(s) and give them a great time. This is supposed to translate to "That company gave me a great time, so I owe them' and they buy or keep buying the product. Seeing the logo everywhere reinforces the message.

I know a guy who had a trip to the Monaco GP, with lunch on a team owner's yacht, helicopter shuttle, great seats, dinner with the drivers etc. It would have cost him £28,000 (around US$50,000) if he had bought it himself. But his supplier paid, because he buys A LOT of their stuff, and they want him to carry on.

I have hosted a number of events myself with my customers, though not on that scale (but we did fly Robinson helicopters and drive Porches once). I have to say, done properly (and that includes never talking business at the event) it seems to work.

But Linux doesn't have this kind of business model, so I don't see how the advertising alone would do much good.

[spinflick]

NASCAR would reach more people in the US.

Hallelujah ! thank you cstudent for inserting the "US" into your quote. ;)

[ubuntu27]

Reading all the post so far it seems that it is not a good idea to participate in this event. There are just too much cons.

[EDIT] aysiu has created a thread titled How many people do you know who watch the Indy 500? (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=409553)
PLeasve vote on the poll.


**Watching the poll result***

Oh my! It's much worse than I though!!!

[helios]

You need to go check your facts before you present them as such. thirty four percent of the money raised at the time of this posting have come from europe and south america. What was that about no interest outside the US/ Read before you post "facts"...saves embarassment that way.

[helios]

OK, OK...I give. You guys have way to many creative ways of saying I'm too cheap to give 1.34 to a system that has supported me for years.

Cheers chaps...

[Shay Stephens]

OK, OK...I give. You guys have way to many creative ways of saying I'm too cheap to give 1.34 to a system that has supported me for years.

Cheers chaps...

You know, your attitude is really not attracting the people. You should not be the spokesman of this effort. And for the record, I would much rather give $1.34 directly to a developer rather than to give it to a race car driver. In fact I have done better than that by sending $20 to ktoon in an effort to help them finish their animation software. I also sent money to manybooks.net and freebsd.

If people want to help out, don't send 2 bucks to a race car driver, send it to the ktoon developers who are working hard to get an animation package out for ubuntu:
http://ktoon.toonka.com/

They need your help far more than a corporate sponsored race car driver!

[helios]

Look Shay, what I said I was saying in the spirit of fun. It was a good natured way of saying ok thanks guys, Im not going to change any minds around here. You guys are so clicked in here that a new person can't come in and play around a bit. Maybe you deserve the reputation you've been tagged with. However, since you feel the need to get a dig in, let me correct you here instead of a private email the way it should have been done. The money raised for this sponsorship has nothing to do with a race car driver. The costs of running a one million dollar race car for a months time trials and such are high. Yes, a driver makes lots of money but not a dime of it goes to him from the sponsorship money.

His money comes from winning or finishing a race in the first top cars. The owners pay him not a dime if he does not perform. I know you said you don't know much about racing but you should have left it at that. Your statement was brutally incorrect. Look...we're gonna make our goal and obviously its going to be without your help. I think I can live with that. Having a little competitive fun trying to get one distro to donate more than the next is the way we bump the amount.. you are not seeing someone trying to have a bit of fun while he does his job. You are taking a bit of light-hearted jabbing way too serious.

And Shay...don't sweat it...I pumped in a buck thirty four with Ubuntu listed as the distro. After all, I am a user.

helios

[Shay Stephens]

The costs of running a one million dollar race car for a months time trials and such are high.

That sure seems wasteful to me, no matter how much fun you are having. I just think the money could go a lot farther going directly to projects that need the money more than a million dollar car burning who knows how much gasoline (or whatever rocket fuel they use these days) for a month of trials.

And this has nothing to do with how many posts you have, you could have a million posts and be the most popular poster the world has ever known. The idea still seems wasteful and ultimately ineffective to me.

[slayerboy]

That sure seems wasteful to me, no matter how much fun you are having. I just think the money could go a lot farther going directly to projects that need the money more than a million dollar car burning who knows how much gasoline (or whatever rocket fuel they use these days) for a month of trials.

And this has nothing to do with how many posts you have, you could have a million posts and be the most popular poster the world has ever known. The idea still seems wasteful and ultimately ineffective to me.

To a certain extent I to agree with you about this, and at first I was a little "uhhh...yeah" towards the whole thing.

The way I see it is this. This has the potential to bring more exposure to Linux than it's had before. Let's say foir the sake of argument that the only people watching the Indy 500 are rednecks who like beer a little too much and people who don't own computers. Ok, so they see this race car with Linux on it. Now, myself, I am a little into NASCAR and if I saw something on the car that I knew nothing about, I'd be asking people, "Hey, what's with X on the 8 car?" Even if it was a one time thing on the car, it would generate buzz, even more so since it's a one time thing.

So let's say Bud Weiser watched the Indy 500 and hears the news all through the month leading up to it about this thing called Linux that came up with the money to sponsor an Indy car based solely on community effort. I think Mr. Weiser might be inclined to talk to some people at work about this thing called Linux. Now let's say some of these people DID NOT see the race, but they own computers, and they are sick of Windows. They might just decide to switch based solely because someone who doesn't own a computer heard about it from an INDY CAR race of all places!

The fact is, if something makes the news and generates buzz, it gets spread. Think of that show...umm...American Idol. Would you beleive I have not watched ONE entire airing of that show? I couldn't tell you who won, but I can name you some people that generated buzz among people I work with, friends, and family. I recognize their names now. I may not listen to their music, but I associate them with this stupid show called American Idol. They bring nothing of value to me or my life, but I know about them, even when I have never watched maybe a half hour in total of that show.

I can use this example with many other shows on tv that I have never seen, but could probably summarize the premise of the show without doing any research based solely on what I have heard.

I don't watch the Indy 500, I much prefer NASCAR. However, if that Linux car makes it in, I can guarantee you I'll be watching.

"So how does any of this help the Linux community? I'd rather donate that money towards a developer or a project than a stupid Indy car that is a one shot deal."

One word: EXPOSURE

Everyone can agree that maybe the Indy 500 is not the best idea in the world, but it's better than an ad in a football, soccer, or hockey game. This generates buzz. News reporters LOVE this kind of crazy stuff. They eat it up. Not just sports guys either. Yeah, it'll probably be covered on ESPN, but you'll proably see it on your local news if it does happen. I think this might be the first time this has ever happened too, where a community project raised enough money to sponsor an Indy car. To a lot of race fans, Indy and open-wheel racing is considered more elite than stock car racing because of the corporations advertising.

Guys we're a community amongst mutli-million dollar corporations advertising on an Indy car. How many corporations WON'T take notice of this? How many corporations WON'T think about Linux more, or at least think twice about upgrading to Vista?

We don't have to agree, but IMHO, this is something that is pretty cool and fun, but at the same time raising awareness for Linux, and quite possibly Ubuntu. Who doesn't want that? Giving $1.34 to a dev doesn't have nearly as much impact as this could. It just gives one particular dev a LOT of money if the same amount of people donate to the dev as this. This could possibly give a WHOLE bunch of devs the needed man power and money they deserve!

[helios]

They began a short time ago burning ethynol instead of gas or JP4. To be honest, had this not been the case, I don't know that I could have supported it to the extent I am. It's going to happen anyway, I might as well slap a big 'ol tux on the front of it and let him lead Stephan Gregoire to victory. Lobby4Linux has put itself thru hell trying to get national exposure for an effort like this. It will be worth it though should it come to pass. And how's that for a pretentious image...a French Driver for our car. Don't worry...he is so self-efacing, he does his own comedy bit about being French.

Vroom Vroom (without harmful emissions too)

helios

[Adamant1988]

OK, OK...I give. You guys have way to many creative ways of saying I'm too cheap to give 1.34 to a system that has supported me for years.

Cheers chaps...

Yeah, because I want to waste MY money by paying for a driver, what a way to support the project. No, I'd rather give $5.00 to a developer than $.99 to a driver of a car who contributes nothing to Linux. In fact, your post has inspired me, perhaps I'll arrange a paypal transaction to the debian project today.

[beefcurry]

hello targeted audience. I think in page two i said something so true that most of you overlooked.


I have never heard of the Indie500's =.=);;

Now I live in Hong Kong, I watch football, the Rugby 7's (when it comes to hong kong) and the occational cricket scoreboard. And everyone in the Linux world problely watches something different. Its like me, I donate alot of money to charities every year, but I select my charities carefully. Donating is a good thing, but you need to know where to donate or your money is wasted. Giving people rice but no means to cook it is meaningless. Sitcking LINUX - LIFE on a big board to people who has never heard of Linux is meaningless. Most people I know has never heard of Linux.

Learn from a real marketing department. Novel advertises Suse on Distrowatch.com . That is a website Linux users are likely to go, not indie500. Even talking about potential users, Advertising a electric shaver in the middle of the ethiopian highlands will do you no good.

looks like debians going to get my spare change instead :D

[helios]

That would be awesome. We donated $500.00 to Debian right after the first of the year. Since there was no tax break for it, doing it before the first wasn't a big deal. As a debian user and having just installed 4.0, I can personally vouch for the fact that they did not waste the money. The Debian Logo will be on the hood of our car. That can only be a good thing.

helios

[jgrabham]

Does anybody besides me think that there are much better causes to donate to than software and computers. There is a huge difference between a want and a need! We want opensource we dont need it. People are starving, they NEED food. Why not give the money to people who NEED it? Or is it true that Americans dont give a crap about anything outside their own country?

[Daveski]

We don't have to agree, but IMHO, this is something that is pretty cool and fun, but at the same time raising awareness for Linux, and quite possibly Ubuntu. Who doesn't want that? Giving $1.34 to a dev doesn't have nearly as much impact as this could. It just gives one particular dev a LOT of money if the same amount of people donate to the dev as this. This could possibly give a WHOLE bunch of devs the needed man power and money they deserve!

I agree. Many people have said that the money could be better spent, but I am drawn by the fact that someone has got this all together and shooting for an ambitious goal. All I have to do is donate some money and I will have the almost immediate gratification of actually being able to see the fruits of this project.

Perhaps the Indy500 is not the best place to try to gain exposure, but look, at least this CAN be done. If someone points me at a better advertising project, I'll donate to that too.

[saulgoode]

I just think it is worth a couple bucks to imagine one of Steve Ballmer's cronies going up to him on Monday and saying, "Hey, did you see that penguin yesterday?". :D

[beefcurry]

Does anybody besides me think that there are much better causes to donate to than software and computers. There is a huge difference between a want and a need! We want opensource we dont need it. People are starving, they NEED food. Why not give the money to people who NEED it? Or is it true that Americans dont give a crap about anything outside their own country?

Like I said you need to choose, however giving the poor food is a short term thing, it dosnt give them the power to keep on growing food for themselves. However opensource brings projects such as the OLPC, aimed at providing education to the poor, allowing them to leave poverty. But that just being overly idealistic :P. I would have to say (IMO) that Americans don't know anything outside their own country. not that they don't give a crap :P.

[laredo7mm]

...Or is it true that Americans dont give a crap about anything outside their own country?

Yeah you are right, my country (the USA) doesn't give crap to other countries in need. That is why the USA spends 12.9 billion a year in Foreign Aid and the UK only spends 4.8 Billion.

I am sure for whatever major catastrophe or need there is in the world, the USA contributes more than any other country.

[Teg_Navanis]

I don't know how this became a thread about bashing other countries, but I'm sick of it.

There is no need for generalised and unfounded accusations of Americancs being indifferent or ignorant, nor for a gigantic humanitarian ******* contest.

[antenna]

Yeah you are right, my country (the USA) doesn't give crap to other countries in need. That is why the USA spends 12.9 billion a year in Foreign Aid and the UK only spends 4.8 Billion.

I am sure for whatever major catastrophe or need there is in the world, the USA contributes more than any other country.

Realise of course that you need to take factors such as population and GDP into account when you make such comparisons... anyway, what was this thread about again..

[rai4shu2]

This thread is about making people aware that Linux exists, so that they can be prepared to offer support for it. One way of doing that would be at a major sporting event.

A simple way of thinking about this is like the difference between giving someone a fish and teaching them to fish. Which way is really better?

[laredo7mm]

Realise of course that you need to take factors such as population and GDP into account when you make such comparisons...

Nah, I just wanted to as unsubstantiated as everybody else. ;)

[migla]

Does anybody besides me think that there are much better causes to donate to than software and computers. There is a huge difference between a want and a need! We want opensource we dont need it. People are starving, they NEED food. Why not give the money to people who NEED it? Or is it true that Americans dont give a crap about anything outside their own country?

It's true that freedom is not acutely essential for life, but it sure is nice. Also, freedom, empowerment and education leads to food in the belly in the long run. I think we should give the children of the world both food and laptops (http://www.laptop.org/).

[maniac_X]

I would suggest caution. I also would suggest you look at how a poster is using bullying tactics to try and get money out of you.

Personally I find it rather odd that Chastain Motorsports doesn't seem to have an official website. It is suggested that they are a well respected racing team. One would think they would spearhead this campaign on an official Chastain Motorsports website?? That right there is a huge red flag for me.

for your reading enjoyment regarding helios

http://penguinpetes.com/b2evo/index.php?p=291&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

===

[Adamant1988]

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=412269

I would rather do this with my money.

[STREETURCHINE]

I would suggest caution. I also would suggest you look at how a poster is using bullying tactics to try and get money out of you.

Personally I find it rather odd that Chastain Motorsports doesn't seem to have an official website. It is suggested that they are a well respected racing team. One would think they would spearhead this campaign on an official Chastain Motorsports website?? That right there is a huge red flag for me.

for your reading enjoyment regarding helios

http://penguinpetes.com/b2evo/index.php?p=291&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

===

a very good read ,all who are thinking of donating should have a read of this,
i have not entered this debate much because it sounded a bit suspect.

[Teg_Navanis]

I would suggest caution. I also would suggest you look at how a poster is using bullying tactics to try and get money out of you.

for your reading enjoyment regarding helios

http://penguinpetes.com/b2evo/index.php?p=291&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

===

After looking at the blog, a quote from http://www.tux500.com/team.php came to my mind:


Our thanks goes out to Lobby4Linux.com. Ken and his volunteer staff are handling the press releases, articles and media contacts for the Tux500 project. Helios has the ability to get into places and contacts that we mere mortals cannot.

Not knowing anything about his abilities, I'd certainly agree that he has an incredible ego and will. He seems to be knocking on every door, aiming at maximum effect. Luckily, the internet is nicely connected and knowledge about his shady methods spreads just as quickly.

[saulgoode]

It seems to me that "Pete" is the one engaging in hyperbole and misrepresentation. So Helios has posted on a lot of forums. What would you expect from someone placed in charge of getting the message out? Might I do things differently and be less "challenging" in my approach? I most likely would -- but then I am not a very good at marketing.

Even if one is not familiar with Helio's record (and blustery style), a little bit of research shows that this campaign is not a "scam". At worst it is a risky venture whereby Linux doesn't reap a sufficient benefit to have justified the investment -- such is the nature of any advertising campaign. If the car fails to qualify for the race (yes, there is a chance it won't), it would certainly be a disappointment; but even that wouldn't be a total write-off. (Ironically, Adamant's reaction demonstrates how the campaign has already been effective :) ).

A "scam" is when someone solicits donations for one purpose and applies it to something else. Penguin Pete has yet to produce any evidence that is what is occurring here and I am quite confident his vitriolic speculation will be shown wrong. If I am proved mistaken in my conclusion, I shall certainly be honorable enough to admit it; I expect no less from Mr Pete.

[Chilli Bob]

I've watched a lot of motorsport over the years, including the occasional (ho-hum) Indy and can say that a no-name team running at the back of the pack would be lucky to get any TV time at all. I've watched whole F1 races without seeing a glimpse of the bottom few cars. Unless these guys can pull off a miracle, or crash spectacularly, the logo isn't likely to be seen at all.

A better way to get the message out would be for everyone to have a Tux sticker on their car window, and a Tux coffee mug on their desk at work. People fear Linux because it seems strange and unusual. An omnipresent friendly penguin would at least make it feel more accessable and hopefully get them interested in reading a bit about Linux. For that reason I'd rather spend my money at Cafe Press than on an Indy car.

Here's a thought - International Tux Day! When all Linux users wear a Tux t-shirt to work. (Or would that make it too easy for the office jocks to target the geeks?)

[Shay Stephens]

Scam or legit, this is going to waste a lot of peoples money and siphon it where it will do the least amount of good. If one wants to donate time, money, or other resources, there are much better places to spend it than a sporting event.

This isn't about linux. Linux is an excuse to get a car sponsored (at best).

[Shay Stephens]

Here's a thought - International Tux Day! When all Linux users wear a Tux t-shirt to work. (Or would that make it too easy for the office jocks to target the geeks?)

I predict Tux day morphs into wedgy day hehehe

[aysiu]

Apparently, they've raised over US$10,000:
http://www.linuxpr.com/releases/9659.html

[lepz]

Apparently, they've raised over US$10,000:
http://www.linuxpr.com/releases/9659.html

Oh yeah I remember a thread about that, car race or something? forgot all about it. ;)

[Shay Stephens]

Apparently, they've raised over US$10,000:
http://www.linuxpr.com/releases/9659.html

Only $340,000 left to go.

[Daveski]

Oh yeah I remember a thread about that, car race or something? forgot all about it. ;)

Time is running out. If anyone here wants to donate, there is only 5 days left.

I know there are debates about the impact this would have, but I for one would be very satisfied just to see a mainstream media article about this. Especially if the Ubuntu logo were prominent, and Ubuntu is leading the league table of 'voted for' distros.


http://tux500.com/geeklog/

[sloggerkhan]

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=446228

Maybe Ubuntu Forums could take a loan against the value of the domain and make it the Ubuntu Linux 500, lol.... JK.

[Daveski]

http://tux500.com/geeklog/

Sadly Stephan Gregiore has suffered a broken back, but it is hoped he will make a full recovery. The project is hoping to go ahead with another driver. Check the blog for further details.

[Daveski]

Last day for donations today. It is a shame that the funds raised have so far fallen short of the practical minimum. Any last minute donations out there?

[DR_K13]

Well, they put a driver in the car by the name of Roberto Moreno. Roberto qualified and put the car in the field for the indy 500. :D

[Corfy]

The donation deadline has been extended to Saturday.

It is disappointing to me how far short the project has come.

Yes, we can sit here and argue forever about the effectiveness of this campaign, but the fact of the matter is, in the real world, you don't see Linux advertised anywhere. It isn't on television, it isn't on radio, it isn't on billboards, it isn't in newspapers, only accasionally is Linux advertised in magazines (and then only in tech magazines) and you rarely see ads online. It is amazing to me the number of people I talk to who have never even heard of Linux. Yes, "word of mouth" is great, but any form of marketing, in my opinion, is a good thing.

This is a situation where we have a guaranteed audience of 400,000+ people who are sitting there watching the race for three hours who would see the car go past them as much as 200 times (yes, some of them wouldn't know a computer from an abacus, but certainly not all). That is a captive audience. They aren't going anywhere. This is also a situation where the race is broadcast all over the U.S. and, I can tell you from experience, is the biggest thing on television that day (yes, I live in Indiana now, but I didn't always). It is also a situation where the race is broadcast internationally. But let's assume that twice the number of people who are at the track are watching the race at home (although I'm sure the actual number is much, much higher)... that is still a total of 1.2 million people. I realize the popularity of the race has declined in recent years, but it is still the Indianapolis 500, "the greatest spectacle in racing". And it isn't like anyone is asking you to donate your life savings. Sacrifice one cup of Starbucks or sacrifice one trip to McDonald's, and you more than do your part.

Someone was talking about a Linux hospital wing. Yeah, that would be great... in that one community, but nobody outside of the community will know it exists. Someone else said that the money could be donated to cancer research. Yeah, that would be great... but who would hear about it? Someone else suggested that NASCAR would be seen by more people. Yeah, that would be great... but that would require adding on at least another "0" (and more likely two) to the monetary goal. Someone suggested an ad in the New York Times. How many of you actually read the New York Times? I'm not saying that the Indy 500 idea is the ultimate in marketing ideas, but it is an idea, and it isn't that unrealistic.

In the meantime, Microsoft is everywhere. They have commercials on television, they have ads in magazines, they have ads in large newspapers. And it works. People have heard of Microsoft, and for the most part, that is all they know. Thanks to the recent Apple TV ads, some are starting to be more aware that Mac is an alternative to Windows. That is because their name is out there.

You aren't going to attract an audience by advertising in a hole. You aren't going to convince the average person that Linux is a viable alternative by only advertising Linux on Linux websites and talking about it on Linux forums, because the average person doesn't go to those sites. If you want Linux to be taken seriously, then the average person needs to know that Linux is more than a toy OS written by middle-aged men who live in their parent's basements. And you aren't going to attract new users if nobody has heard of it.

If you have a better idea for marketing Linux, then start it up. If it will reach a wide number of people, I will happily support it just as I happily support this. By my mind, $10 of my money to Tux500 gets Linux in front of a minimum of one million people from all over the world. How many of your ideas will reach one million people for that money?

[Lucifiel]

No offense but there is a reason why F1 and Nascar command higher advertising rates. They're watched by the whole world all over. :p Higher exposure = higher rates.

And personally, I'd prefer to spend the cash on something like improving Gimp and many other areas than supporting some advertising campaign when Linux isn't quite ready for the desktop yet. Doing such a campaign at this point would be a case of putting the cart before the horse.

[aysiu]

No offense but there is a reason why F1 and Nascar command higher advertising rates. They're watched by the whole world all over. :p Higher exposure = higher rates. I beg to differ. 88% of forum members who hang out in the Cafe know no one who watches the Indy 500. (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=409553).

If you're going for international exposure at a sporting event, try football (aka soccer) or the Olympics.

[Lucifiel]

I beg to differ. 88% of forum members who hang out in the Cafe know no one who watches the Indy 500. (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=409553).

If you're going for international exposure at a sporting event, try football (aka soccer) or the Olympics.

Huh? Uhm, I thought F1 and Nascar were way more famous than Indy 500? Basically, lots of people have heard about Nascar and F1 and so have I, even though I've never watched racing. I'd never even heard about Indy 500 until I read this thread.

But you're right. Football commands a lot more attention for advertising, not to mention Olympics.

[Corfy]

And personally, I'd prefer to spend the cash on something like improving Gimp and many other areas

So what is stopping you from sending GIMP money? Are you waiting for a community-led project to raise money for GIMP? Why not just go to GIMP's webpage and send them some? I'll even make it easy for you... here is the link: http://www.gimp.org/donating/

[Corfy]

I'd never even heard about Indy 500 until I read this thread.

But I bet you have heard of it now. In fact, you may have even done a quick bit of research on what it is, maybe looked it up in Wikipedia, maybe did an online search, or maybe you got all of your information from this thread. Now, I'm not saying that you are turning into a fan or anything, but that is kind of the whole point of this.

You are learning at least a little bit about the Indy 500. But the only reason you have heard of it is because a reference came up in an area that you frequent, even though the Indy 500 has nothing to do with why you are here. So chances are, the next time it comes up, you won't say, "I have never heard of that before."

That is what Tux500 is trying to do with Linux. It is trying to get the word out to people who have never heard of it before because it isn't brought up by anyone around them. I'm not saying that everyone who sees the Linux car would automatically install Linux on their computers, but at least they will be familiar with the name, and maybe they will look it up to see what it is.

Do you know how many people have never heard of Linux? The number never ceases to amaze me. I personally know one person (besides myself and my wife) who use Linux (not counting the Linux Fest I went to last year out-of-state). But usually I have to explain what Linux is, because nobody knows. And if they have never heard of it before, then from their point of view, it isn't worth considering.

[Lucifiel]

So what is stopping you from sending GIMP money? Are you waiting for a community-led project to raise money for GIMP? Why not just go to GIMP's webpage and send them some? I'll even make it easy for you... here is the link: http://www.gimp.org/donating/

Because I don't own a Credit card and local bank and government rules are very strict on how you can apply for one. You need to earn at least US$3k to more to even qualify for one and you need to submit bank statements, digital signatures, thumbprints, etc . Run afoul of the rules and you could really end up with a nice vacation in jail. :p

Previously, it was a lot stricter and those who didn't work had to have at least 1 million bucks(about US$750K) sitting in their banks, to apply for one while those who held a job had to earn at least US$5k or more.

And I don't know anyone who owns a credit card, either.

So, honestly, no, even Paypal doesn't work for me 'cos you need a credit card again in my country(government rules, I think) and an account with a US bank. I could purchase cash orders or wired orders but including taxes, levies, etc., the final amount that cost you could be as much as 200% to 300% of the original amount. And that's not factoring the charges from the post office.

And finally, I don't think that all banks accept checks from all regions in the world. You need to check with the local bank and also the other bank first and that's again, another problem. By the end of the day, you'd be better off learning how to draft proposals and the like, than giving your money away to the bank and the post office. And yes, I'm slowly learning how to use Gimp and hope to contribute in other areas.

[Lucifiel]

But I bet you have heard of it now. In fact, you may have even done a quick bit of research on what it is, maybe looked it up in Wikipedia, maybe did an online search, or maybe you got all of your information from this thread. Now, I'm not saying that you are turning into a fan or anything, but that is kind of the whole point of this.

You are learning at least a little bit about the Indy 500. But the only reason you have heard of it is because a reference came up in an area that you frequent, even though the Indy 500 has nothing to do with why you are here. So chances are, the next time it comes up, you won't say, "I have never heard of that before."

That is what Tux500 is trying to do with Linux. It is trying to get the word out to people who have never heard of it before because it isn't brought up by anyone around them. I'm not saying that everyone who sees the Linux car would automatically install Linux on their computers, but at least they will be familiar with the name, and maybe they will look it up to see what it is.

Do you know how many people have never heard of Linux? The number never ceases to amaze me. I personally know one person (besides myself and my wife) who use Linux (not counting the Linux Fest I went to last year out-of-state). But usually I have to explain what Linux is, because nobody knows. And if they have never heard of it before, then from their point of view, it isn't worth considering.

Yes, it is indeed true that I did look up the site and read this thread a little. Yet, how are international users going to be able to watch Indy 500? Not everyone owns a TV card and unless the event is streamed live or something, how many people will even get to watch it? No wait, how will they learn about it?

If you're talking about capturing the attention of users within the USA, good luck on that. Because I've absolutely no idea on how conservative or liberal the consumers are in the USA, someone with better knowledge would be able to know how well they'd take to the idea of another operating system.

Well, it's true that a lot of people in other countries wouldn't know about Linux but quite a lot of people here do. Singapore's a pretty wired country after all. Heck, even elementary schools use electronic money for a wide variety of purposes these days like canteen food and so on. Still, the government here is very tied to Microsoft and has always supported them, save for 2 to 3 government agencies which adopted open-source for cost-saving features. This means that it is mandatory for all government schools to use Microsoft products unless they intend to fund their open-source ventures.

But I'm side-tracking!

If you really want this event to succeed, you've gotta get as many people to watch this as possible and give them a good reason to. Insufficient audience = uhm, waste of your dollars, man. And then, there's the follow-up, etc. where you've gotta hang onto them and remind them of Linux, etc.

[aysiu]

Read more developments on Tux500 here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=454568).