The search for the next big thing

If you haven’t seen it, Bruce Byfield wrote an article last week entitled “Does the Linux desktop innovate too much?” I’m not going to go into cases and examples here, not because I don’t think it’s a good question or a useful conversation, but because that conversation’s already happening elsewhere and I feel I don’t have a lot to add to it. But it is a good question, and it is a useful conversation. Are we changing things around just for the sake of changing things around? Are we just showing off to each other?

Why Linux flier beta 1-and-a-half

Here’s a mostly unchanged flier snapshot. I think the only changes I made were rejiggering the margins and guides to even it out a little bit. Maybe I realigned an image or two. Oh yeah, I moved the pages around too, which is something I’ve been meaning to do for weeks now.

Also, this morning I posted an unbranded version of this flier to spreadlinux.com, a new site devoted to community-based Linux marketing. They’re brand-new as far as I’m aware, but they’ve got a great thing going over there and you should really check them out.

Have-a the phun!

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tarball

Why Linux flier beta 1

Okay, I’ve finally gotten to the point where I think I can call this a beta. Tonight I think I’m gonna strip the Guerrilla Tech stuff out and upload it to KDE Look (is there a more appropriate, artwork-specific site for this sort of thing? I totally don’t know of one). I’ve printed a couple of hard copies, they don’t look like total shit. Outstanding issues remaining:

• There’s work yet to be done on image placement, especially on panel 1 (“What’s Linux?” and “What’s Free Software?”).
• The cover sucks.
• I’m not sure how thrilled I am with that Compiz cube mini-screenshot.
• I swear I remember once seeing some sort of caveman-like mascot for Bash, but I cannot find it anywhere. Can anyone else verify this, or am I making it up?
• ????

Have at it, heathens.

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Why Linux flier brain dump

No update this time, I’ve toyed with it a little but not much to speak of. But I had a quick thought on the images. Rather than big, page-anchoring images and screenshots and stuff, I’m thinking about icon-sized graphics with URLs under them, to encourage further independent reading. For instance, in the first pane, where I begin with “Linux (also known as GNU/Linux)…” put the classic GNU logo with a link to gnu.org. In the “What’s Free Software” section, maybe the GPLv3 logo with a link to the GPLv3 FAQ or something. Et cetera, et cetera. Thoughts?

-p.

8/22/08 edit: Here’s some updated files, all the action’s on page 2. Consider this a concept draft.

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Why Linux flier snapshot 5

Okay, we’re typeset and pretty much ready for graphics, I think. The verbage will be cut more, I’m sure, as I go along, but now that it’s spaced out a little nicer it doesn’t look nearly so cluttered. If you’re following the source, you’ll notice that I’ve started to make use of styles. I don’t really know how to work them, but I’m making it up as I go, as usual. The margins are set to my printer, so if you don’t own a deskjet F4180, check that. Enjoy.

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Yet Another Why Linux Flier Snapshot

Still poking at this thing, but it did start to resemble a readable pamphlet this weekend for the first time, so I’m excited about that. The wording’s starting to come together (at least in places), and although there are still no images, I’m starting to arrange the text in anticipation of said, and I’ve got a couple ideas for it. Obviously, the big spot under “Isn’t Linux all text and stuff?” will have either a couple tricked out DE screenshots or just their logos if space proves too tight, and probably the Compiz cube just because people love it. And since it’s on the same pane as “What can I do with it?” I think I’ll also throw in like the OOo logo and the Firefox logo and whatnot, just make that an overwhelming mess of stuff. Like, “Here’s a picture of choice. See all the choice here?” The penguin on the cover is totally a place-holder, and if anyone’s got a more creative idea for that, I’d love to hear it. Also, I rewrote the “What’s with all these different kinds of Linux?” pane and cut the horrible car analogy out, which pleases me greatly.

Outstanding bugs include (but are not limited to)…

• Still and always too long everywhere, goddammit. I need an editor.
• Specifically, “Where does it come from?” needs to get cut in half even though it’s my favorite pane, so I can fit in…
• …a “How can I contribute?” section to talk about art and documentation and non-code stuff people can do.
• We are almost ready to start tentatively plugging images in, but there will be some margin futzing later today. Unless your printer has 40px margins on all four sides, this baby isn’t printable yet. It wasn’t my first priority, but now we’re just about ready for an actual printed draft to start markup on. More on that in later updates.

Here’s a tarball!
Here’s a PDF!

enjoy
-p.daniels

PS: Let’s go Twins!

Why Linux flier snapshot

A little more work has been done on the flier, and I wanted to share that with everyone and once again put out a general call for help on some of the work that remains.

Known bugs:

• Way too wordy
• No images yet (and no room for them, this thing needs a hatchet job bad), but I have some ideas
• In particular, “Where does it come from?” cut in at least half so I have room for…
• …a “How can I contribute?” section to talk about art and documentation and non-code stuff people can do
• “Aren’t there like a thousand different kinds of Linux?” sux0rz and needs a total rewrite

Quick update

I bet you thought I got hit by a truck, huh? Nope, just haven’t really felt the urge to write lately. Anyway, I wanted to post a snapshot of the Why Linux flier, because I’ve done a lot of work with it since the last time. Check it out, let me know if you’ve got any ideas for better wording (this is a rough-rough draft) or images or whatever. It’s in Scribus format.

Update: Now as a tar.gz file with fonts and images. Sorry ’bout that.

Known bugs

• The wording’s rough as hell; this version was just to decide what I want to talk about.
• It’s too damn long.
• None of the fonts are in there, but I’m working on that right now, I’ll post an updated file when that’s done. Done.
• It needs some pictures.
• “Where does it come from?” and “Aren’t there a thousand different kinds of Linux?” are total cock-ups. Rewriting those is priority one for tomorrow.

Link to Rapidshare

-p.

Why Linux flier, pt.2

Just some miscellaneous thoughts relating to the flier I’m working on, and a (god save me from my own pomposity) development snapshot.

• Thought the first. We will not mention Windows or OS X at all. Two reasons.
  • There’s already a flier for Vista, and I think it’s sufficient.
  • More centrally, Linux can stand on its own merits. For one thing, it’s bad marketing to always go on about your competition; if you have the choice between saying something good about you and something bad about them, say something good about you, it’ll bring in more business. For another, It’s about two years past time that we quit using proprietary software as our benchmark for “success,” it’s an idea that holds us back. Free software is better, and has been for some time now. The year of Linux on the whatever was 2005.
• Thought the second. Splitting it into two mini-pamphlets as originally envisioned was dumb, and I’m not going to do it. Also two reasons.
  • I talk too much, there won’t be room.
  • I’m personally uncomfortable putting a direct “this is an ad for my business” type of ad on the same piece of paper as a “this is an ad for Linux” ad. Yes, I sell Linux to people. But I’m always a little touchy about even marginally implying any sort of synonymousness (word? not a word? Firefox says not a word) there. I sell computers, and I show people how to use them. I didn’t make this stuff, and I don’t ever want anybody to think I did.
  • Okay, three reasons. Third being, like I said, I don’t make software. I sell computers, and I help people do the stuff they want to do with them, and I write some mostly pretty uninspired and usually disjointed shit about them and hope that it helps folks, but I make no bones about where my skills are and aren’t. So this is a way I can give back, doing stuff like these pamphlets and having an open creative process and releasing the results of that process as free documentation. And in that spirit I should make it a priority to design this stuff so that you, Esteemed Reader, can take it and use it for whatever endeavor you wish. You should be able to pull my logo and contact information off almost anything I post here and replace it with your own info in two minutes.

Anyway, here’s a look at the work in progress. I haven’t settled on layout, images, placement or anything, it’s just a very rough sketch and possible headers. Tear it apart, please. Comments and suggestions gladly accepted.

whylinux-brochure-snapshot2

-p.

“Why Linux?” flier, first concept draft

What, I don’t post for a couple weeks and you think it’s just another flash-in-the-pan Linux blog gone with the wind, eh? Ha.

Matter of fact, I’ve been busting my friggin’ agates over here. Just got a pile of P4 desktop that I’ve been refurbishing for sale (amongst other more devious uses, but that’s a topic for a whole other post), and I’ve been putting a lot of thought into a new run of ads. A more proper, unified campaign this time around, none of that nickel and dime shit. I’m looking at bus ads, if you believe that.

But the fliers. I’ve got plans. In the past, the whole operation was kinda clever but half-assed, lots of different 8.5×11 ads for different purposes in different spots. Which has done pretty well outdoors, but has absolutely bombed inside (coffee shops et cetera), so I’ve been kicking around how to improve my eye-catching ability in such places. The Bad Vista pamphlet was the beginning of that thought process, and it’s been doing… okay. But I’ve got a slightly bigger plan than that in terms of coffee shop visibility, and I think it’s a good one.

So here’s the thought (or at least the prerelease draft thereof). A mobile propaganda station, with copies of several different pamphlets. Something that I could tack up on a board and instead of having to come replace it every week, come refill it every couple weeks.

Remember the 8.5×11 folders you used in school, with the pockets? Think half of one of those, tacked to the wall, with pamphlets and business cards and maybe even some magnets and shit inside. This is a winner, I think, for a couple of reasons. First, I’m better at writing pamphlets, they give me more room to talk and I don’t have to worry so much about making the layout all symmetrical and color-balanced. Second, if you’re in a coffee shop, you’re not going to stand there for five minutes and read my damn flier. But if you’re sitting down and hanging out for a minute anyway, you might grab a couple pamphlets and skim them while you’re waiting for your soup.

So all that was just a really long introduction to the first pamphlet that I’m working on for this (not counting the Bad Vista one), a general “Why Linux?” piece. (Another nice thing about this idea, I can work on them one at a time, edit and revise as needed, pull pieces, add pieces, whatever I want to do.) Attached is a pdf of the concept draft. Initially, I’m thinking a Z-folded pamphlet (as opposed to the letter fold I used on the Bad Vista piece). One side will be Why Linux, three pages. Flip it over, it’s Why Guerrilla Tech, three pages. Clever, eh?

Drop me a reply if you want to see the sourcefile, I’m doing it in Scribus. As always, I invite your comments, but please keep in mind that this is a concept sketch, literally twenty minutes of thought and five minutes of typing. Okay, have at.

whylinux-brochure-concept

-p.

PS: Yes, I’m also working on part 2 of the cmus howto! Thanks for the interest in it, it’s nice to know you’re getting read!