Hi All,
Just now going through the web I reached a site ( http://www.linux-mag.com) which is supposed to promote GNU/Linux (or at least it seems to be ).I found M$ ads there which were telling people to believe that Windoze is more powerful. This has really disturbed me. What these so called Open Source guys trying to achieve? They are doing more harm to the community. The point I'm trying to prove here is that untill and unless you believe in the philosophy behind the free software movement you will achieve no good.It's like going one step forward and two step backwards.
Expecting comments and suggestions.
Regards
Nikhil Prabhakar
"Live Life Ethically"
www.gnu.org/philosophy http://www.gnu.org/philosophy
Nikhil Prabhakar wrote:
Hi All,
Just now going through the web I reached a site ( http://www.linux-mag.com) which is supposed to promote GNU/Linux (or at least it seems to be ).I found M$ ads there which were telling people to believe that Windoze is more powerful. This has really disturbed me. What these so called Open Source guys trying to achieve? They are doing more harm to the community. The point I'm trying to prove here is that untill and unless you believe in the philosophy behind the free software movement you will achieve no good.It's like going one step forward and two step backwards.
I remember Linux World(largest selling print magazine for Linux) had adverts by Microsoft on the "get-the-facts" campaign.Why ? LW belongs to a parent body which would have out-sourced advertising to a third-party vendor whose business is to churn out ads from a central server.Most often than not, LW editors/writers would not know what products/services their ad's represent.I presume that's the same case with the linux mag in question.
Again, online(only) magazines depend on a lot of advert-based revenue.No FOSS based projects would advertise,so in this case it has to be proprietary s/w companies.Basically, I see nothing wrong in that.
-toufeeq
Hi, I had mailed to linux-mag.com http://linux-mag.com/ about the issue of M$ ad on their site spreading "Get The Facts" propaganda.Here is their response:
Dear Mr. Prabhakar,
How, in a semi-free society, can we deny the right of one company to buy advertising space from us but not others? We have no policy enabling us to censor advertisers, except when they break the law (fraud, libel, lewd solicitations, etc). Microsoft wants to put out a message of its
alternative
solutions to the open source community, and they've chosen our well-respected and well-trafficked site to do so.
Personally, I think will prove to be a waste of time, as your note reveals. Think of it as a sign of the pressure that Microsoft and all makers of proprietary software are feeling because of the relentless momentum behind open source, open standard solutions. And if their money helps keep us in business producing an information resource valued by the Linux community we serve, isn't that a good for all of us?
If I may ask, are you a subscriber to our publication? Are you too helping to keep us in business? I would be glad to think so.
Regards,
Robert Wells, Ph.D. VP, Business Development Linux Magazine
Regards
nipra
"Live Life Ethically"
www.gnu.org/philosophy http://www.gnu.org/philosophy
Nikhil, To your original question the answer is 1) Linux Magazine is not in the bussiness of selling the magazine, it is in the bussiness of selling its subscribers to advertisers. Once that part is clear, everything follows. 2) It is true that it the magazine does serve poeple interested in GNU/Linux, but that is its secondary function. You can get a sense of this by looking at any magazine ratio of subscription income to advertising income. Its usually 1:2
And if their money helps keep us in business producing an information resource valued by the Linux community we serve, isn't that a good for all of us?
Nope. Eventually whoever pays the piper calls the tune.
If I may ask, are you a subscriber to our publication? Are you too helping to keep us in business? I would be glad to think so.
This is critical, I am not talking about Linux Mag, but the more directly we support media or any organization the better it is.
To understand more about media, I can only refer you to Manufacturing Consent http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Herman%20/Manufac_Consent_Prop_Model.html http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Herman%20/Conclusions_ManufacConsent.html or http://chomskytorrents.org/TorrentDetails.php?TorrentID=32
-Krishna
--- Nikhil Prabhakar prabhakar.nikhil@gmail.com wrote:
Hi, I had mailed to linux-mag.com http://linux-mag.com/ about the issue of M$ ad on their site spreading "Get The Facts" propaganda.Here is their response:
Dear Mr. Prabhakar,
How, in a semi-free society, can we deny the right
of one company to buy
advertising space from us but not others? We have
no policy enabling us to
censor advertisers, except when they break the law
(fraud, libel, lewd
solicitations, etc). Microsoft wants to put out a
message of its alternative
solutions to the open source community, and they've
chosen our
well-respected and well-trafficked site to do so.
Personally, I think will prove to be a waste of
time, as your note reveals.
Think of it as a sign of the pressure that
Microsoft and all makers of
proprietary software are feeling because of the
relentless momentum behind
open source, open standard solutions. And if their
money helps keep us in
business producing an information resource valued
by the Linux community we
serve, isn't that a good for all of us?
If I may ask, are you a subscriber to our
publication? Are you too helping
to keep us in business? I would be glad to think
so.
Regards,
Robert Wells, Ph.D. VP, Business Development Linux Magazine
Regards
nipra
"Live Life Ethically"
www.gnu.org/philosophy http://www.gnu.org/philosophy _______________________________________________ Fsf-friends mailing list Fsf-friends@mm.gnu.org.in http://mm.gnu.org.in/mailman/listinfo/fsf-friends
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-
Krishna Pagadala -
Nikhil Prabhakar -
Toufeeq Hussain