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Linux Marketing Campaign Seeks $350k in 40 Days

lxer.com — LXer editor dcparris gives an introduction to the Tux500 Project. This project aims to raise enough funds in 40 days to sponsor an Indy 500 car in the name of Linux.

Who dugg this? Made popular Apr 12, 2007

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  • praisethelard, on 06/06/2008, -5/+18Yeah, they'll definitely blow it on coke. Happens every time.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Sadly, he has a point. The money could be used for at least a better use then a crappy sponsored car right?
  • FairlyStupid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Wow .. this story made to FP with 16 diggs.. lowest i have seen to date.
  • neuromancerzero, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9if this doesn't work out, they should buy a penguin
  • JaredRR, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10How many of those $100 laptops could be bought? How much Linux training for underprivileged kids? And you want to sponsor a race car....

    I agree... what a waste.
  • iDiggIt42, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Since when has there been a motorsports section?
  • h0ly, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I understand the need for marketing, and I think Firefox is a good example.

    But I also feel that $350k is a lot of money, and some of it could be spent on funding some free software projects. Difficult tasks, like reverse engineering drivers or speeding up OpenOffice, often are too boring to be undertaken by the casual developer... thus an extra-incentive would be helpful.

    Linux on the desktop, for instance, is always kind of "getting there", but the little quirks (eg: webcam not working) annoy Joe User so much that I'm not sure a marketing campaign would do as much good to Linux as a whole as it did for Firefox, which has a stricter focus. It might end up backfiring.
  • ajgv, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8better question: WHY is there a motorsports section?
  • joewebster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Since I read the article (and related link):

    * $25K - $50K USD : Minor Associate Sponsorship; logo appears on the car
    * $50K - $100K USD : Associate Sponsorship; larger logo appears on the car
    * $125K - $300K USD : Major Associate Sponsorship; large logo appears on the car's engine cover
    * $350K - $600K USD : Primary Sponsorship; logo appears on the car's sidepod, and the race team name contains "Team Linux"
  • hambend, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Remember what AOL did to the internet? Are we *sure* we want NASCAR enthusiasts flocking over to linux?
  • tds5016, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I don't know why, but I think this would be aiming Linux advertisement at the wrong demographic... how many times have you seen Linux users also be the possessors of a pitchfork and straw hat?

    --never mind this comment, I was under the impression that it was for NASCAR, not F1. Feel free to digg down.
  • agrabob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4AND it was already dugg. AND yet again they have still not told us how much has been raised so far.

    I'm all about linux and racing, but F1 would be a better audience.
  • grapeape25, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I doubt this will make much of a difference...
  • UO07, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4its f1, not nascar. But your point is valid nonetheless.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It was on the fp with 16 diggs because when was the last time you saw anything in the motorsports section. iDiggIt proves my point. If you want to be on the front page give your story a topic that doesn't ever see the light of day. Less diggs are needed for fame.
  • wired4u, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Putting tux on a nascar is not going to think how joe six pack thinks about linux. This money could be used for something much better, like getting linux into low income high schools. I know people who watch nascar, and I do not think we want them using linux nor do they care too.
  • shawnanigans, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6How about spending that money on hiring coders, or perhaps better for desktop Linux, designers.
  • daradib, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Dugg for funniness and ridiculousness. But seriously, that's just a waste of money. If you want to promote Linux, there are so many other ways to better use the money.
  • gharding, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Since at least July of last year.
  • redxii, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If I donate, I demand better ACPI support for HP notebooks. Dell, Toshiba, IBM, and Asus all have specific modules for ACPI support but with HP notebooks, changing the brightness with the function keys shouldn't crash the entire system.
  • wolferz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2indy cars, not stock cars....

    EDIT: bleh. I posted before his edit... now irrelevant...
  • UO07, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4"40 days left to donate!
    After 1 day, we've raised $923.14"

    9 kids in Africa are pissed off right now because they won't be getting a Linux laptop.
  • ne0shell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This makes me think of the web bubble days and Oracle etc on the side of race cars. I agree it's a waste of money - why not use it to pay one of the top coders
    a full time salary for 2 years, or two coders - however that breaks down and how much pay it would take. The perceived difficulties for windoze users could be mostly if not completely addressed in that time. What about funding a device driver development project to raise compatibility with Linux? I appreciate where the heart is on this so to speak but it's just not really what Linux is all about.
  • serend, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1http://blog.lobby4linux.com/archives/116-Linux-Users-Start.....Your.....ENGINES!.html
  • Aliarse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The "Snobby elitist attitude" all depends on which distro you choose IMO. I too cant stand the snobby elitist type.

    I've yet to see anyone on ubuntuforums.org act elitist, if you have a problem, post a thread, and you'll almost always get a good answer that will fix/attempt to fix the problem you're having.
  • fkr3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Unless corporations move in to donate it, and of course take much of the credit, I just don't see it happening. It's too ambitious a target when most of your fans are just kids who want everything for free. Best of luck though.
  • ts8lemonade, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@ wolferz

    Linux is not semi-broken, you *****.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3True, and my damn wireless cards still don't fsking work :mad:
  • snecklifter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Or we could give the nouveau project 350k to solve one of the main hurdles to linux adoption.

    The list is pretty much endless. Also, since NASCAR gets practically zero coverage outside the U.S. I feel awful for anyone suckered into blowing their hard-earned on this. Linux doesn't need marketing. Hell, round here, this ***** sells itself.
  • osfn8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It isn't F1 either, it's IRL
  • ts8lemonade, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1How can you expect support for things like printers and wireless cards without hardware vendors releasing drivers or any form of information? It's not the fault of Linux that they won't release drivers. Besides, even without their help Linux is still coming a long way, people are reverse engineering drivers and programs like ndiswrapper can use the Windows drivers. So, don't call Linux semi-broken, you *****, because a particular hardware vendor won't let their device work with it; Linux is still a fully functioning, secure, stable, and reliable OS.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1don't do it, the car is going to just crash first anyway
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not really...The Indy 500 is the single largest sporting event in the world (single day). It's watched by 5.5 million televisions just in the United States.

    Read the wikipedia entry and you'll understand why this is the smartest thing they could do. I love how no one even wants to try at this too...this coming from a community that lashes out at Microsoft but then when given a chance to really make a difference, they cower in the corner and say it can't be done. What a bunch of hypocrites...at least these guys are trying.
  • Mactard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1People with a lot of money are involved with IRL, this could lead to bigger and better things. What if the car won?
    Marketing is expensive for a reason, it usually works. Seeing Linux in the sports page, on Sportscenter, etc. I think any exposure is good exposure. If you dont like the project then dont support it.

    If this led to millions of dollars invested I wouldnt be surprised.
  • vonskippy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think they're confusing "red hat" with "red necks". Showing once again that the Open Source Freaks couldn't market themselves into a free blow job at a swingers convention.


  • burke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1We may as well advertise KDE4 at a monster truck rally while we're at it.
  • rebotfc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In Real Life?
  • nephilimx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wouldnt it be better to invest in a booming sport like soccer in USA?
    I mean they could proberly sponser a decent team for a 1-3 years for that much money
    There logo would make american sports shows, and make international shows everytime beckham plays them...
  • dkoon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Good luck asking these cheap ass people to sponsor Indy... lol
  • Kprkt, on 02/08/2008, -0/+0Thats too bad ;)
    http://www.actrollin.com
  • hkwint, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I don't understand the people talking about waste. They're not realistic.
    People can donate to developers and Linux distributions, and they can give money to the OLPC project if they want. For some reason, they almost don't. Look at how many people donate money to OpenBSD for examlpe (almost nobody does).
    So you can't say the money is wasted, because if the action asked for money for other purposes, it wouldn't have been donated in first place.
    If you disagree, start a donation campaign for developers; and you'll see it will be far more difficult to collect money.
    (Some) people do want to donate for a Linux sticker on an Indy 500 car. Almost nobody wants do donate to (voluntary) software developers. That's reality. Live with it.
  • netgonged, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The total money these guys all raised so far is listed at http://tux500.com
    They're not even going to get A TENTH of the money they're asking for!
  • Mxermadman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Linux isn't that hard to use. My grandmother runs Suse 10.1. When she has a problem she reads, finds a fix, and implements it.

    I don't see why everyone thinks that the average Joe isn't a good target audience. If you run Linux, and you don't think anyone else is capable, then you yourself are an elitist.
  • charlie67j, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Don't forget that the field is made up of roughly 50% of drivers that come from other countries. They have a loyal fan base in their homes around the globe.
    ESPN International Networks & Syndication distributes the broadcast to over 344 million homes in 203 different nations (53% Europe, 28% Asia Pacific, 14% North and South America - non-U.S.)
    The IMS radio network broadcasts the radio version as well.

    By it's nature Indycar racing, and open wheel in general, is geekier than most other forms of motorsport.

    By raising awareness about Linux maybe your user base will grow. If the user base grows, so will support and opportunities for development and additional growth of the OS. If the OEMs see a significant growth in total number of users, they will be forced to develop driver support for the hardware. As long as Linux stays in the shadows, and isn't known to the masses, such development will always fall on the community.

    I still get asked "What is this Linux?" Maybe by raising awareness it will ultimately benefit everyone in the open source communities.

    If you agree, help them out...if not... then do nothing, or mock the efforts of others if it makes you feel better.
  • smldjr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think we all need to put our money where our mouth is ,this is a crucial time for Linux . We need to get the word out and capitalize on microshafts failure with vista! In the last couple of weeks I have helped several people switch from
    windows to Linux and there are several more interested in an alternative to the junk that they have now !
    This is a good opportunity,please take advantage of it and donate something even if it is only $1.50

  • wolferz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Even if people do notice, what then?

    People get their copy of Linux and discover how hard it is to use and install and give up. That or they run into the Linux communities snobby elitist attitude and decide that they want nothing to do with it. How about when they discover all the things they can't do with Linux because of poor support? If tomorrow every one in the world who has a computer found out about Linux and decided to give it a go, the back lash from struggling with it would doom Linux forever in the mainstream. Linux would become well known for being difficult and problematic. Make no mistake, that is infinitely more important to most people than cost, reliability, AND freedom combined. If Linux was to gain over night popularity the end result would be a wet dream come true for Microsoft.

    Computers exist to simply peoples lives. If they fail at that then they are just simply failures.

    Like the others here, I think this money should be spent fixing Linux's problems. Not advertising a semi-broken product.
  • wolferz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@ts8lemonade

    oh so i guess linux's failure to support entire groups of modern hardware is a feature then?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1i would do it if it was for nascar dayum!
  • Raz4Life, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2...conspiracy...
  • ajgv, on 10/12/2007, -16/+7what a waste.

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