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Raymond and Perens respond to SCORaymond and Perens respond to SCOPosted Sep 10, 2003 15:18 UTC (Wed) by josh_stern (guest, #4868)Parent article: Raymond and Perens respond to SCO
SCO's "open letter" was carried by financial services such as Reuters
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Raymond and Perens respond to SCO Posted Sep 10, 2003 16:12 UTC (Wed) by dwalters (guest, #4207) [Link] I agree with this. I always find it annoying when I type SCOX at Yahoo! and I see virtually all of SCO's press releases in the Headlines section (which in turn, seems to drive the stock price up), and hardly any press releases, except maybe one or two from IBM, to represent any opposing points of view.
Yahoo! + SCO Posted Sep 12, 2003 0:57 UTC (Fri) by vonbrand (subscriber, #4458) [Link] Just took a look at http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030909/tech_sco_linux_1.html. Nice bunch of misrepresentations, that one..."SCO, which owns the rights to Unix, the networking software program upon which Linux is based..." They don't, and Linux isn't "based on Unix". It goes on, and even claims no Linux advocates where available for comment. No link to answer or comment (even if not shown publically, enough _calm_, to the point, detailed, comments might bring a clue to a reporter or two...).
Raymond and Perens respond to SCO Posted Sep 10, 2003 17:06 UTC (Wed) by davidw (subscriber, #947) [Link] Excellent point - I watch in frustration as the corporate channels carry all the crap from SCO with none of the other side of the story. I wonder what can be done about it.
Raymond and Perens respond to SCO Posted Sep 10, 2003 17:22 UTC (Wed) by murry (guest, #13033) [Link] The access to news media is a systemic part of the problem for the open source community. ESR's excellent (but reactive) response to Darl's letter may not be getting equal distribution. This is a problem. It's solved by a business decision to build a proactive response capability.Anyone with a checkbook can contract with a newswire to publish a press release that is distributed to global, national, regional and local media "circuits". Darl's open letter is a polished press release distributed for a fee by PR Newswire. Reuters picked it up on the wire because a) they have been following and reporting the story and b) it involves several publically-traded companies. Typically, the newswires "vet" releases for inflammatory and accusatory statements, especially statements aimed at public companies. PR agencies earn their fees in part by weasel-wording flames and accusations to get by the vetting process. Darl's letter is exquisitely weasel-worded. It took time to write this letter, and it is aimed at people who do not have the deep insight and background of most open source advocates. People who populate juries. This letter is a substitute for positive character witnesses. It is manufactured evidence of corporate citizenship and good will. And to those who know better, it is disgusting. In addition to use of a newswire for distribution, SCO's machine is probably also "pitching and placing" each release with a small but carefully selected group of journalists and analysts. The professional approach is to make calls and offer the release by e-mail as an exclusive or semi-exclusive, and this always grabs journalists who enjoy scooping their competitors. Should the open source community fight fire with fire? Should ESR's response letter have been a press release distributed by a newswire, with an earnest pitch effort in advance? I for one would applaud if OSS assembled a response center to fight fire with fire. My hand is in the air as a volunteer. My first recommendation is to shift from a reactive to proactive strategy. When you think about all the good OSS stories out there, proactive becomes highly attractive.
Raymond and Perens respond to SCO Posted Sep 10, 2003 17:42 UTC (Wed) by murry (guest, #13033) [Link] Further to my advocacy for proactive rather than reactive PR, here's one of the main reasons: http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/22254.htmlOSS has to do a better PR job. A proactive approach would also include commissioning the research.
Raymond and Perens respond to SCO Posted Sep 20, 2003 1:52 UTC (Sat) by rhkramer (guest, #15212) [Link] murry,Thanks for raising your hand -- I hope someone sees it and takes advantage of it. I hadn't realized that press releases were a business. If we (the open source community) get into that business, we need to do it right -- it sounds like you have some experience And, I agree with the criticisms raised in other posts about this email, and want to reiterate one and add another. Hacker is the wrong word. Isn't another one of the fundamental principles of good communication to know your audience? "farrago"?? What's the man in the street going to think? Randy Kramer
PR Newswire cost Posted Sep 10, 2003 17:44 UTC (Wed) by frazier (guest, #3060) [Link] Perhaps the RedHat fund or similar can be used to pay for any costs involved. Retuers could also be contacted directly, but in this case they probably picked up the story from PR Newswire. Business Wire is a similar competitor to Reuters.Here's the pices I was just quoted by phone for national distribution (more for international use) $100 : Startup fee $600 : First 400 words $150 : additional 100 wordsI don't know if businesswire is less expensive or not.
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