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"We're Linux" video contest kicks offLinux Foundation Announces Formal Kick Off for "We're Linux" Video ContestUser-generated video campaign taps grassroots community talent to elevate strengths of Linux
SAN FRANCISCO, January 26, 2009 - The Linux Foundation (LF), the
nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux,
today announced the formal launch of its "We're Linux" video contest.
The contest seeks to find the best user-generated videos that
demonstrate what Linux means to those who use it and inspire others to
try it. The contest is open to everyone.
The "We're Linux" contest officially begins today and will be open for
submissions through midnight on March 15, 2009. The winner(s) will be
revealed at the Linux Foundation's Collaboration Summit on April 8,
2009, in San Francisco and will be awarded with a trip to Tokyo, Japan
to participate in the Linux Foundation's Japanese Linux Symposium.
In response to early and resounding community input, the campaign has
been renamed from the original "I'm Linux" to the "We're Linux" video
contest. This name embodies the essence of community and better
expresses how Linux is represented by more than any one person or
company.
The winner will be determined by a combination of online rankings and
a panel of judges that includes:
§ Matt Asay, CNET blogger and executive at Alfresco, Inc.;
§ Larry Augustin, venture capitalist and former chairman of VA
Software,
and Linux Foundation board member;
§ Jono Bacon, Ubuntu community manager;
§ Joe Brockmeier, openSUSE community manager;
§ Melinda Mettler, director, School of Advertising at the Academy
of Art
University; and
§ Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO, O'Reilly Media, Inc.
To become a member of the Linux Foundation's Video forum, view early
submissions, and to submit your own video for the "We're Linux"
contest, please visit http://video.linuxfoundation.org.
"While Microsoft spent large sums of money on advertising last year to
attempt to reinvent itself, and Apple continued to use well executed
yet traditional techniques for advertising its alternative, Linux will
be best represented by using the same kind of collaborative model used
to develop the operating system," said Amanda McPherson, vice
president of marketing and developer programs at the Linux Foundation.
About the Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering
the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, The Linux Foundation sponsors
the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading
Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world.
The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by
providing unified resources and services needed for open source to
successfully compete with closed platforms. For more information,
please visit www.linux-foundation.org.
###
Trademarks: The Linux Foundation and Linux Standard Base are
trademarks of The Linux Foundation. Linux is a trademark of Linus
Torvalds. Third party marks and brands are the property of their
respective holders.
Media Contact
Jennifer Cloer
Page One PR
503-746-7577 (o)
503-867-2304 (m)
Jennifer@pageonepr.com
(Log in to post comments)
"We're Linux" video contest kicks off Posted Jan 26, 2009 19:10 UTC (Mon) by gmaxwell (subscriber, #30048) [Link]
Pretty sad that the video site requires flash.
"Dependant on proprietary formats and close source web plugins? Check. We're linux!"
"We're Linux" video contest kicks off Posted Jan 26, 2009 19:29 UTC (Mon) by MisterIO (guest, #36192) [Link]
You can't do advertising on Linux with media formats used only by Linux distros(or bsd).
"We're Linux" video contest kicks off Posted Jan 26, 2009 19:42 UTC (Mon) by gmaxwell (subscriber, #30048) [Link]
Sure. But you can offer alternative formats in addition to whatever works well on Window/Mac, you can offer a Java player for non-proprietary formats, be ready for the firefox 3.1 video support, etc.
(I regret my initial post now I didn't for that simple observation to be a prolonged discussion)
"We're Linux" video contest kicks off Posted Jan 26, 2009 19:46 UTC (Mon) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]
Or you can make sure that your flash players work in Gnash and swfdec.
"We're Linux" video contest kicks off Posted Jan 27, 2009 6:57 UTC (Tue) by nikanth (guest, #50093) [Link]
Or moonlight ;) The Obama inagural speech was done with it!
"We're Linux" video contest kicks off Posted Jan 27, 2009 16:00 UTC (Tue) by leoc (subscriber, #39773) [Link]
Nope. Same problem. You had to download proprietary Microsoft plugins to watch the Obama inauguration on Linux, too.
"We're Linux" video contest kicks off Posted Jan 29, 2009 21:40 UTC (Thu) by lakeland (subscriber, #1157) [Link]
Hmmm? Please explain? Moonlight is a proprietary Microsoft Plugin?
"We're Linux" video contest kicks off Posted Jan 27, 2009 16:48 UTC (Tue) by proski (subscriber, #104) [Link] swfdec 0.8.4 is not working. That's a shame. There are free flash players that work with swfdec.
"We're Linux" video contest kicks off Posted Jan 27, 2009 17:26 UTC (Tue) by JungleJazz (guest, #56346) [Link]
Chasing after every closed format is not the solution here. Reverse-engineering may have legal protections in some countries, but even those protections are not ironclad. Building a free software framework, based on reverse-engineering, is building a house on an unstable foundation. The framework may support itself for a short while, and it is a great benefit when you need it, but it is not a long-term solution. Reverse-engineering software functionality risks patent-holder litigation and claims of contaminated code.
Kudos to the Gnash and swfdec programmers, who, I believe, are compelling Adobe to slowly open their Flash technology. But what we ultimately want, for the online ecosystem, is a community-organized video framework, which is not beholden to only one corporate organization. We want a framework that works for everyone. Video is becoming the primary way we all communicate online, and it is vital it remains an open and freely distributable technology.
"We're Linux" video contest kicks off Posted Jan 27, 2009 23:46 UTC (Tue) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link]
Ya.. What worked for Java may work for flash.
Bad PR Posted Jan 27, 2009 9:22 UTC (Tue) by job (guest, #670) [Link]
I am surprised that the panel consists mostly of people who really should know better. Two community managers judging a contest that's not even usable with their own distributions?
Teaching Linux for computer beginners Posted Jan 27, 2009 14:06 UTC (Tue) by michaeljt (subscriber, #39183) [Link]
Another way to increase knowledge of Linux "at the basis" would be for people to offer computing courses for absolute beginners based on Linux rather than Windows. Something like "Introduction to computers using <Ubuntu or other>", with the emphasis on "introduction" and "computers" rather than Linux. Aimed at people who won't be installing Linux themselves, but who know someone who can do it for them. And introducing Linux based on what it offers to that audience, namely low cost, providing all that a beginner needs, and working on systems that will not run Windows well. Not over-emphasising the freedom thing, because freedom to improve the software is of no interest to someone who can barely use it - in a way it works against them, as it promotes a "fix it yourself" mentality which they can't do. Not even over-emphasising the community thing, as they are probably best asking their immediate acquaintances for help when they need it. In Germany, the Volkshochschule would be the place for this sort of thing. You even get (some) money for doing it.
Teaching Linux for computer beginners Posted Jan 27, 2009 16:52 UTC (Tue) by proski (subscriber, #104) [Link] That's a very good idea.
Teaching Linux for computer beginners Posted Jan 28, 2009 5:12 UTC (Wed) by eru (subscriber, #2753) [Link] I have been doing this sort of thing with a relative who is a total beginner, and found that Linux itself works quite well in this context - all problems she encountered were of a kind that would also be had with other operating systems. I'm sure many other Linux fans have been doing similar education. What would be most useful for such projects is cheap (preferably free) beginner-level material oriented with Linux. On paper, or formatted so that a quality printout can be made (electronic documents are useless for the absolute beginner). It should explain, with pictures, things like mousing around, using menues, starting programs, and so on, then progressing to more advanced things, like e-mail use and writing a document with OOo. Such material exists for Windows, but a total beginner may get confused with even minor discrepancies between what the educational material says and what actually appears on the screen! Therefore this material would unfortunately have to be tailored for a particular distribution, desktop environment, and localization. It also absolutely must be in the native language of pupil. I wonder if any projects for doing these exist? It is not a very exciting thing to so, but probably necessary if we want Linux to reach the masses..
Teaching Linux for computer beginners Posted Feb 4, 2009 9:36 UTC (Wed) by Yasumoto (subscriber, #42642) [Link]
I've found the "Ubuntu for Non-Geeks" books to be really useful for beginners: http://nostarch.com/ubuntu_3.htm
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