3 types of projects

• scratch own itch, solve own problem
• Benign and neglect, moving direction of team, not users.
• user-centric

Marketing can’t solve problem with software

bullet slide bad, one item per slide good.

Marketing isn’t always bad:

• bring in new users
• bring in new developers
• share code

Traditional methods don’t work for FOSS

Word of mouth, presentations, write articles, press, webpage

• good postgresql, vim.

Do:

• embrace non-developers
• Debian mainlainer application
• process developer centric

Don’t “just grab code from {CVS,subversion}”

• source tarball with clear instructions
• distro specific package
• wmare package

Do:

• good documentation important
• aimed at non-developers

Don’t:

• say nasty things about competitor’s programs
• people don’t like to be told that their stupid for using Windows
• positive not negative

Don’t say “we will release when ready”

• predictable releases

Press

1. introduce yourself
2. be sincere
3. send updates
4. have a reliable press contact
5. don’t flame: “You lost all credibility” - DON’T!!
   • sends messaege “don’t write about our project or you will get flamed by wierdos”
6. Become the media - get a planet
7. Good luck

Marketing

virial marketing

• hard for floss if at saturation point among FOSS fans

developers

• stand back
• don’t bite users
• not gods

users

• promote software, too.

How to deal with negative views

• honest, refuse interview
• don’t go on defensive
• don’t feed the trolls
• don’t link to the article