[CLUE-Talk] FW: Hacker story for Denver Post

[Jed S. Baer]

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 12:03:08 -0600
"Patty Laushman" <patty at theuptimegroup.com> wrote:

> In response to Richard's question about why the focus is Linux, I'd like
> to explain how this all came about.  As you all know, my company does
> Linux and open source consulting for small- to medium-sized businesses,
> and thus I would like to help Ross at the Denver Post increase awareness
> of open source technology in the the general business population. I want
> them to know that Linux is a good alternative to MS products and that it
> delivers unique advantages that MS can't offer.
> 
> Ross agrees that Linux is a good topic in general, but a story that is 
> hardly more than a history lesson (Linus Torvalds, market share, major 
> vendors, etc.) will be interesting to no one except us, the Linux
> community. To get people interested in the topic, he needs to have a
> "hook," or something that captures people's attention and gets them to
> read the article.  There's no point in writing a story that no one
> reads.
> 
> The reality is that hacker is a loaded word that captures people's 
> attention, and the tie-in to a Linux article is that most people who 
> consider themselves "hackers" use Linux themselves for a variety of
> reasons. The "hacker" or "reformed hacker" subject will be the
> interesting personality with an interesting story that hooks people into
> reading a story about Linux.  The point is not to propagate a stereotype
> -- it's to educate them on Linux.
> 
> I have met with Ross and deem him to be an intelligent, open minded, 
> responsible person who is interested in the world of Linux. Yes, there
> are examples of irresponsible journalism out there, just as
> irresponsibility exists in every other human-controlled institution.
> There has been a great deal of misinformation in the media about both
> open source and "hackers," and I think Ross' story gives our community
> an opportunity to clear some of that up.  I don't believe there is any
> ill intent here, or I would not be willing to put my reputation on the
> line. If Ross writes a story that only negatively associates Linux with
> hackers, I and my company both lose. If we in the Linux community want
> to contribute positively to Linux's acceptance as more that just a rogue
> operating system, here is a chance to do that. And if we don't help Ross
> do this, who will?

Thanks for the clarification, Patti.

The thing is, that since so many people misuse the term "hacker", hackers
are sceptical about it's use by anyone who isn't known to be a hacker.

It's cool that he's wanting to do this story, and that you're helping him
get hooked up.

But I think the question still remains about what he's looking for. If he
really wants a "code geek", we need to know that. If he's looking more for
a philosophical approach, that's good for us to know as well. Is the
article's focus overview, server, desktop? Or is it more of a "personal
profile" thing, i.e. "The Story of a Typical Linux User".

I agree that siezing the opportunity to get better publicity for Linux is
great. In the sense of making sure that the story comes across well, it's
good to know ahead of time what the expectations are. For example, my own
opinion of Linux on the desktop is perhaps not what you want to see in a
mainstream paper. (e.g. Gnome has lost it's way by dumbing things down)

jed

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... it is poor civic hygiene to install technologies that could someday
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