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569 lines
25 KiB
Plaintext
<!doctype linuxdoc system>
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<article>
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<title>Commercial Port Advocacy mini-HOWTO
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<author>Doug Loss <tt/dloss@seul.org/
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<date>v0.1, 29 December 1999
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<abstract>
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This document discusses methods that can be used to approach
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commercial software companies to convince them to port their
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programs to Linux.
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</abstract>
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<toc>
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<sect>Copyright Information
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<p>This mini-HOWTO is Copyright © 2000 by Douglas R. Loss.
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All rights reserved.</p>
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<p>A verbatim copy may be reproduced or distributed in any medium
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physical or electronic without permission of the author.
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Translations are similarly permitted without express permission
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if they include a notice on who translated them.</p>
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<p>Short quotes may be used without prior consent from the
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author. Derivative work and partial distributions of this
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mini-HOWTO must be accompanied by either a verbatim copy of this
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file or a pointer to a verbatim copy.</p>
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<p>Commercial redistribution is allowed and encouraged; the
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author would like to be notified of any such distributions.</p>
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<p>In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information
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through as many channels as possible. However, we do wish to
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retain copyright on the HOWTO documents, and would like to be
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notified of any plans to redistribute the HOWTOs.</p>
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<p>We further want <em>all</em> information provided in the
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HOWTOs to be disseminated. If you have questions, please contact
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Tim Bynum, the Linux HOWTO coordinator, at
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<htmlurl url = "mailto:linux-howto@sunsite.unc.edu"
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name = "linux-howto@sunsite.unc.edu">.</p>
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<sect>Why write this?
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<p>I read over all the other advocacy howtos for Linux that I
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could find (I've listed them in the resource section at the end).
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They were almost all addressed to convincing end users (either
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business or personal) that Linux could meet their needs on a
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day-to-day basis. That's a very useful thing to do, but it
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wasn't what I was looking for. Only the Linux Advocacy Project
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came close to what I was looking for, and it didn't quite cover
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what I wanted. I wanted something that would help me approach
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organizations making software for other platforms and convince
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them to port their works to Linux. Since I couldn't find any
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howto concerning that I decided to write one.</p>
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<p>In this howto I'll cover how to approach software companies
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and what arguments may be most effective in convincing them to
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port their programs to Linux. I won't talk about trying to
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convince them to release their Linux ports under open source
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licenses. While that might be a good idea, I think these things
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should be done in small steps. Advocating a port to another OS
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is much more likely to meet with interest than advocating what
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the company may perceive as "giving away" product, or advocating
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a radical change in their basic development model.</p>
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<sect>Other efforts
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<p>There are other groups and individuals doing their parts in
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trying to get various software and hardware vendors to support
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Linux. Norman Jacobowitz is a consultant working with SSC, Inc.
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on an advocacy project that approaches the same problem I'm
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addressing here, although from a different direction. Here's
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what he told me about his efforts:</p>
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<p>
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<quote>SSC, Inc, publishers of Linux Journal, maintain a
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"software wish list"
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at <http://www.linuxresources.com/wish>. They are
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currently paying an
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outside consultant to use these results and other data to lobby
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marketing managers at ISVs to port their products to Linux. This
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is an
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effective, on going project to bring more native software to
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Linux; so
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please drop by the wish list and vote for your favorite
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software.</quote>
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</p>
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<p>Andrew Mayhew has been trying to convince hardware vendors
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that making Linux drivers, or at least releasing the
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specifications so the Linux community can write the drivers, is a
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good idea. Here are his thoughts:</p>
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<p>
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<quote>I go to conferences. I was most recently at
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Networld-Interop in Atlanta (which was shortly followed by the
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Atlanta
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Linux Expo). There at Interop I went to many of the vendors with
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two
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agendas. First, I was there as a respresentative of the ISP that
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I work
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for and was looking for solutions. But secondly, I was there
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find out who
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currently had Linux support and if they didn't have Linux
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support, why
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they didn't and was the company considering it. It is
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interesting to
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note, that in the large Novell section, there were actually two
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Linux
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related sub-booths. Additionally, Cobalt Micro was there with
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their thin
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server, along with RedHat and Caldera. Fairly small showings in
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a nearly
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completely non-Unix related conference, but a showing none the
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less.</quote>
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<quote>Most of the companies that I was talking to are primarily
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hardware
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vendors. They already don't make any money off of their drivers.
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They
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just need to develop the drivers so that people will use their
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hardware.
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My typical approach to one of these companies was to first ask
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about the
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product in general, so that they could get through their
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marketing routine
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quickly, and then ask about driver support. When the only words
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out of
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their mouths would be Windows 95, 98, and NT, I would ask about
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other
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platforms explaining that I run in a multiplatform environment
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and would
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need interoperability between these platforms. In introducing
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the idea
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that they should support other platforms I would only slowly work
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in the
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idea of Linux as one of them. I found that introducing the idea
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that I
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wanted driver support for Linux right off typically got me a
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knee-jerk
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reaction which would basically have the person shutdown and try
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to find a
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way to get out of the conversation. But if you can get their
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defenses down then you can explain to them how, in
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general, all they would need to invest to get Linux drivers would
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be to
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openly publish the specifications for talking to whatever
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hardware and
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possibly providing hardware to key developers. The biggest
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argument to
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this, is typically, "We have some proprietary ways of doing X and
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don't
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want to have that information out in the open." The usual way
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around this
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problem is to explain that being able to talk and use a device
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does not
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normally mean having to know what proprietary tricks they are
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pulling. At
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least this fits with the wireless LAN and the Fibre Channel IP
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people that
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I was dealing with.</quote>
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<quote>One smaller company, which I think may attempt to find
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someone in the community to help develop a driver for them came
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up with an interesting
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solution around the proprietary issues as well. This being that
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they
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would have the initial developers sign NDAs for the hardware
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documentation, but the source code could be open source so long
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as the
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documentation in the source was not just a copy of what the
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company
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provided the developer.</quote>
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<quote>For software companies, I think it is a very good idea to
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point out that
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there is nothing or very little available of their kind of
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software;
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whatever that area of software is. But it probably should also
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be noted
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what does exist. Of particular interest would be the development
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tools,
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the development support available, and possibly information about
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other
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porting projects. In terms of these other projects they would be
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interested in the porting problems that they have solved or would
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similarly be tackling.</quote>
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</p>
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<sect>How to choose companies to approach
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<p>First, you need to identify an area where Linux is deficient
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in programs. I wouldn't try to convince any company to port
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their web server to Linux. There are plenty of such programs
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available. I'd much rather use my time trying to convince
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companies to port games or kindergarten through 12th grade
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educational programs to Linux, as there's very little of those
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types available (none in the educational area, so far as I
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know).</p>
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<p>Second, you need to identify companies that are most likely to
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be interested. I have no hard evidence of this, but I strongly
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suspect that your efforts will meet more success if you
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concentrate on second-tier companies rather than on market
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leaders in your chosen category. Companies with seemingly dated
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products or products that were aimed at obscure platforms would
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seem to be good targets. Their software may not be dated for
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Linux users since we're not always taken in by the hype factor.
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They may well be looking for new markets for their products as
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their present market dwindles along with their ability to
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compete. I doubt that Disney or Davidson and Co. would consider
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porting their educational programs nearly as quickly as say,
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Soleil Software or Topologika. Also, if a company provides its
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software for both Windows and Macintosh currently, it may be more
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likely to consider supporting yet another OS than one that is
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exclusive to the Windows or Mac world. If all the companies in
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your target category are Windows or Macintosh exclusive I'd try
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the Mac shops first, as a Linux port would give them a much
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greater market expansion (on a percentage basis) than it would a
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Windows-only company.</p>
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<sect>The art of cold contacting
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<p>What you will be doing is known in the fund-raising business
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as "cold contacting." This means that your "target" company
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won't have known that you'll be contacting it, and won't have
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been primed to hear your message. A 1% response rate is
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considered normal. You should be able to do better than
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that.</p>
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<p>In a sense all target companies will be slightly primed to
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hear about Linux due to the remarkable amount of publicity it's
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been getting of late. In that respect your contact won't be
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completely cold. That's good.</p>
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<p>The first thing to do is to identify someone in the company to
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contact. It's always best (if possible) to identify an actual
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individual rather than a job title. Depending on the size of the
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company and its organizational structure, your best bet is the
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head of program development. If that isn't a possibility, try
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for the head of whatever technical section the company may have.
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If <em>that</em> isn't possible, read over whatever bios might be
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available in the "about the company" section of the company's web
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site (they almost all have something like this) and pick the
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person who seems most likely to be intrigued by Linux and to
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become an internal advocate for a Linux port. Finally, if none
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of the above things works try contacting the head of the company.
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Incidentally, it won't hurt to contact more than one person in
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the company if your bio research shows somebody other than the
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head of program development as the most likely person to be
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interested.</p>
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<p>Your initial contact should probably be via email. First,
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email usually goes directly to the person addressed rather than
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being filtered through various layers of the organization as
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postal mail and telephone calls are. Second, with email everyone
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starts equal. Physical presentation and elocution don't enter
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into the contact, so the logic of the message may be more
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apparent.</p>
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<p>The subject of your message should be understated. "Make
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Millions Easily!" will just get your message deleted as spam.
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Try something like "A good new market for your programs," or "An
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overlooked market for your software."</p>
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<p>The first sentence in your message should probably be a
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conditional apology for sending the message to the wrong person
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if the person receiving it is the wrong person. The next
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sentence should request that the message be forwarded to the
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right person and that the person's email address be sent back to
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you for future contacts. This has a few effects. The apology
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establishes that you're not a know-it-all and that you are
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polite. The request reinforces the politeness and quietly lets
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it be known that this won't be a one-time contact. That's
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important. It's a lot easier to blow off a message if you don't
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think you'll ever hear from the writer again.</p>
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<p>That brings up another point. If things work out right, you
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won't be making just a one-time contact with this company. You
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will be signing up to be an outside contact for them, a source of
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information about things Linux. As such, there are some
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guidelines to follow in all your contacts. Be polite. Be
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patient. Be truthful. Be helpful. Stay apart from internal
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politics.</p>
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<p>Be polite means responding civilly to all messages, even if
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you consider them insulting or moronic. Remember, "A soft answer
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turneth away wrath." Besides, it's just possible that you may
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have misunderstood the message. Asking for a restatement of the
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message to clear up its meaning can't hurt.</p>
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<p>Be patient means answering what you consider obvious questions
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calmly and clearly, and answering them as many times as
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necessary. Email isn't real-time; you can take a jog around to
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block to cool down before answering yet another, "But doesn't a
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Linux port mean we'd be expected to give our products away?"
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message.</p>
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<p>Be truthful means answering each question to the best of your
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ability, and saying "I don't know" when that's the correct
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answer. However, "I don't know" is only the first part of that
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answer; "but I'll find out and get back to you" is the rest of
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it.</p>
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<p>Be helpful means going beyond just answering the immediate
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question and trying to address the reasons the question was
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asked. For example, one company asked me how it could publicize
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the existence of a Linux port if it did one. I mentioned the
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standard places (comp.os.linux.announce, Linux Weekly News,
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Freshmeat, Slashdot, Linux Journal). Then I brought the question
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up in the seul-dev-apps mailing list. The discussion there
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eventually started the development of the
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<url url = "http://linuxunited.org/projects/news/"
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name = "lu-news system">.</p>
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<p>Stay apart from internal politics means keeping a little
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distance between yourself and your company contact. However
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friendly your exchanges are, your role shouldn't be one of
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confidante but one of outside expert and advocate. You won't
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force the company into supporting Linux. You can only make sure
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they know about the opportunity and help them find the best way
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to take advantage of it.</p>
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<p>You should probably be prepared to answer questions about why
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no one else in the target company's market niche is developing
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for Linux (if that's indeed the case), and what capabilities are
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available in Linux, such as multimedia. Are the available media
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players exploitable commercially? Do they run efficiently? You
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might also make the point that a port to Linux of a graphical
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program will mean a port to the X Window System and will mean
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that the program is much easier to port to any other OS that uses
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X, such as Solaris, AIX, or HPUX.</p>
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<p>Andrew Mayhew brought up this point to me, and it makes a lot
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of sense:
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<quote>It has been my (albeit limited) experience that
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structuring the
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email/letter sent to companies with the idea that I or one of my
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clients is actually interested in their product at the beginning
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(or as
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closely as reasonable) of the document gets more results. Now,
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this is
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only really applicable is you mean it.</quote>
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</p>
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<sect>What to say
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<p>Okay, enough about what tone to adopt. What do you
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<em>say</em> to convince them that the Linux community is worth
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porting for? Here's what I did.</p>
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<p>First, I explained as well as I could just who the Linux
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community is, and why Linux users would be a receptive group for
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my target company's products. I very carefully didn't
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exaggerate, and made sure that I explained when my figures were
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estimates rather than hard numbers. If someone comes up with a
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way of measuring usage, we may be able to get the hard numbers we
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need for market demographics, but till then we have to do our
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best.</p>
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<p>Next I explained why I thought the Linux market would be good
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for the company to enter.</p>
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<p>Then I laid out the ways in which the company's current
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program line could be ported to Linux. I must say that I lean
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toward using
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<url url = "http://www.ardi.com"
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name = "Abacus Research & Development Inc. (ARDI)">
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Executor technology as a "wrapper" for Macintosh binaries as the
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easiest and quickest way to do that, but
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<url url = "http://www.winehq.com"
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name = "WINE">
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and the
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<url url = "http://www.willows.com"
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name = "TWIN library">
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(as I understand it,these two groups are now working together)
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are all possible tools to help move programs to Linux without
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full-blown ports. Incidentally, I cleared my letter with ARDI
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before I mentioned any action that their engineers might be able
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to take for the company. You would lose credibility if the
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target company acted on your recommendation, contacted someone
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like ARDI, and was essentially told, "We don't know what you're
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talking about."</p>
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<p>There's also <url url = "http://www.lokisoftware.com"
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name = "Loki Software">, which does ports of commercial software
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to Linux. So far they're done only games, but when I talked with
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the president of Loki a while ago he was quite willing to
|
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consider doing similar ports of other types of software.</p>
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<p>Finally, I ended with a personal note on why I was trying to
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convince the company to port to Linux. Here's a copy of my
|
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standard letter; don't copy it word for word, but feel free to
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adapt its organization if you like:</p>
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<sect>My standard contact message
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<p>
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<quote>Dear Sir or Madam:</quote>
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<quote>If I've sent this to the wrong address in your
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organization, I
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apologize; could you please forward it to the appropriate
|
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person? Also, could you let me know who that appropriate person
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is
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so I can direct future communications to him or her? Thank
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you.</quote>
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<quote>I know that [insert company name here] has fine
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educational
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software programs for both the Macintosh and Windows PCs.
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However, I'd like to speak on behalf of a computer community that
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has heretofore been overlooked by the entire educational software
|
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industry; the Linux community. I'd also like to call your
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attention to porting tools that can make moving Windows and
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especially Macintosh software to Linux nearly trivial.</quote>
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<quote>Linux is the fastest growing operating system in the world. It is impossible to put
|
|
exact numbers on how quickly it is growing because it can be downloaded for free
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off of the internet. The last attempt to estimate the total user base in early 1998
|
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came up with ~7 million users world-wide in early 1998 with over 100%
|
|
growth/year. The explosion of Linux publicity since then has undoubtedly kept that
|
|
growth rate alive, putting the current market at around 20 million with rapid
|
|
expansion for some time to come.
|
|
That's more than the worldwide total of OS/2 users and is near
|
|
(if not more than) the number of Macintosh users. In addition,
|
|
these numbers should probably be in some part subtracted from the
|
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Windows and Macintosh user figures, as almost all of the
|
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computers Linux is used on initially had Windows or MacOS
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|
installed.</quote>
|
|
|
|
<quote>Just who are these Linux users? They are primarily male,
|
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technically educated, and in their early twenties. The first two
|
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traits are more standard than the last; Linux users range from
|
|
the teens to probably the mid-40s in age. (I'm 46, so I had to
|
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extend the range at least that far.) This is a prime demographic
|
|
for the educational software market. These are people who
|
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generally have or will soon move into well-paying jobs in
|
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technical fields, and who are often just starting families.
|
|
Linux users are usually not very patient with MacOS or Windows,
|
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and so tend not to see or to consider software offerings for
|
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those operating systems.</quote>
|
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|
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<quote>To the best of my knowledge, there are currently
|
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<em>zero</em>
|
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educational software programs available for Linux. While many
|
|
Linux users will write their own programs if they can't find
|
|
anything to fit their needs, that has so far not been the case
|
|
with educational software. This may be because Linux only
|
|
originated in 1991, and has only experienced explosive growth in
|
|
the last 2-3 years. The market is completely open.</quote>
|
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|
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<quote>This has only recently been noticed by the Linux
|
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community.
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As more of us have young children, the awareness of the need for
|
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educational software for Linux is growing. I'm sure it will only
|
|
be a matter of time till someone begins to address this
|
|
need.</quote>
|
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|
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<quote>What is the easiest, most cost-effective way to enter this
|
|
market? It's certainly not impossible to start from source code
|
|
and rewrite the operating-system-specific routines to work with
|
|
Linux. That's what many Macintosh ISVs did when they wanted to
|
|
enter the Windows market. However, there are easier
|
|
ways.</quote>
|
|
|
|
<quote>There are "wrapper" programs available for both Windows
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and
|
|
Macintosh programs, which enable them to run on Linux without
|
|
having to be rewritten extensively. For Windows, there is the
|
|
TWIN library from Willows Software
|
|
<http://www.willows.com>. I
|
|
don't have any direct experience with TWIN, but the Willows
|
|
website gets quite specific on what Windows routines move across
|
|
cleanly and what ones need some touch up. The WINE Project
|
|
(<http://www.winehq.com>) also has Winelib, a similar set
|
|
of libraries that Corel is planning to help develop and use in
|
|
porting its office applications to Linux.</quote>
|
|
|
|
<quote>For Macintosh programs, Abacus Research & Development,
|
|
Inc.
|
|
(ARDI <http://www.ardi.com/>) has rewritten a substantial
|
|
fraction of the Macintosh OS and toolbox routines, and makes this
|
|
technology available in two different ways. Executor is
|
|
available both as a Macintosh emulator for end-users and as a
|
|
porting tool for Mac ISVs. Executor is available for Linux, DOS
|
|
and Windows. A demo of Executor for Linux is included on the Red
|
|
Hat 5.1 Linux distribution, the most popular commercial
|
|
distribution. The engineers at ARDI are fluent in Macintosh and
|
|
Linux and can evaluate how hard it would be to make a Linux
|
|
version of your Macintosh software. In many cases it can be done
|
|
without your needing to change a single line of code. A Linux
|
|
version of your program created in this way can easily fit on the
|
|
same CD-ROM as your Mac and Windows executables, thereby giving
|
|
you a three-OS program on one SKU. The expenditure required to
|
|
open up this potentially lucrative new market is relatively
|
|
minor; certainly much lower than the cost of the ports many
|
|
companies made in expanding from the Mac-only market into the
|
|
Windows and Mac market.</quote>
|
|
|
|
<quote>Finally, a personal note. The reason I'm moved to write
|
|
to
|
|
you proposing that you enter the Linux educational software
|
|
market is my 6-year-old son. I run Linux because, of all the
|
|
operating system choices available, it best fills my needs and
|
|
desires.
|
|
If there were good educational software available for Linux, I'd
|
|
snap it up. I know I'm not alone; I've heard from other parents
|
|
every time I've mentioned the problem in various Linux forums.
|
|
There's a market out here waiting to buy your product. Please
|
|
don't disappoint us.</quote>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<sect>The final inspirational message
|
|
|
|
<p>If you decide to take a turn at advocating commercial software
|
|
ports to Linux, remember that in so doing you're not acting as
|
|
merely one individual, but as a representative of our entire
|
|
community. I know we're more honest than Microsoft; I like to
|
|
think we're less self-satisfied than Apple; I hope we're more
|
|
generous in helping other users in need than any of the other
|
|
user communities. Show those qualities to the companies you
|
|
contact--honesty, humility, and helpfulness--and you stand a good
|
|
chance of being successful.</p>
|
|
|
|
<sect>Resources
|
|
|
|
<p>Here is the list of other advocacy documents I looked through
|
|
before I decided to write this one. While they didn't cover the
|
|
aspect of Linux advocacy I was looking for, they are well worth
|
|
your time to read through. They have a lot of good advice on how
|
|
to be an effective ambassador to the non-Linuxen out there.</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<itemize>
|
|
<item><url url = "http://www.10mb.com/linux/"
|
|
name = "Linux Advocacy Project"></item>
|
|
<item><url url =
|
|
"http://www.datasync.com/~rogerspl/Advocacy-HOWTO.html"
|
|
name = "Linux Advocacy mini-HOWTO"></item>
|
|
<item><url url = "http://www.seul.org/docs/whylinux.html"
|
|
name = "Why Linux?"></item>
|
|
<item><url url = "http://www.mwsoftware.com/linux/whylinux.html"
|
|
name = "Why Linux?"></item>
|
|
<item><url url = "http://www.croftj.net/~goob/local/why.html"
|
|
name = "Why use Linux?"></item>
|
|
<item><url url =
|
|
"http://www.linux-center.org/en/politics/index.html"
|
|
name = "Politics"></item>
|
|
<item><url url = "http://www.flash.net/~landley/linux/index.htm"
|
|
name = "[No Title]"></item>
|
|
<item><url url =
|
|
"http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/~wirzeniu/texts/advocating-linux.html"
|
|
name = "Advocating Linux"></item>
|
|
<item><url url =
|
|
"http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Hills/9267/fud2.html"
|
|
name = "Linux FUD Factor"></item>
|
|
<item><url url =
|
|
"http://www.KenAndTed.com/KensBookmark/linux/index.html"
|
|
name = "Linux Myth Dispeller"></item>
|
|
<item><url url =
|
|
"http://electriclichen.com/people/dmarti/linuxmanship.html"
|
|
name = "Linuxmanship"></item>
|
|
<item><url url = "http://www.xunil.com/xunil/j4phases.html"
|
|
name = "Four Phases of Linux Acceptance"></item>
|
|
<item><url url = "http://www.linuxos.org/Why-Linux.html"
|
|
name = "To use, or not to use?"></item>
|
|
<item><url url =
|
|
"http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue25/sorensen.html"
|
|
name = "Linux Compared to Other OSs"></item>
|
|
</itemize>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</article>
|