In my opinion I think the way to beat a competing operating system is to make a technically superior one that is easier to use and more secure. As the market share leader I would assume that this would be par for the course.
Alas, this isn't so. Therefore what we have left are five personas for stereotyping Linux users such that you can pitch to them and convert them to your OS of choice, in this case Windows.
First cab off the rank in personas is the Linux Experimenter. This one is an easy sell since he is simply experimenting with Linux, the curious little bugger. A savvy pitch shall save him.
Next is the Market Follower, they are waiting for the wider market to adopt Linux then they will move (read sheep). We can ignore this person because if everything goes to plan then the market will never switch.
We then come to the Application Driven person who will choose functionality over any platform ideology. This person is far too sensible and pragmatic or simply doesn't buy into the platform propaganda war. Hopefully this type of person does not spread as there will be no one left for zealots to conduct flame wars with.
For some reason the sales pitch for this persona starts with "Empathise the value of the platform" -- but I thought that they didn't care about the platform? This is why I never got into sales obviously.
UNIX transitioner is next and I think the less we say about UNIX the better. I wouldn't want to convert from System V to Windows or Linux -- next!
Finally, my favourite, the Linux aficionado. The rotating quote beside him can say "I would put it on every desktop ... I would ban Microsoft®" (Boldness and register mark added by Microsoft). This is going to be a hard sell, how can we get beyond such prejudice?
Step One: "Avoid the Microsoft vs Open Source conservation and focus on specific workloads and business and IT pain points instead".
Good plan I reckon, what's next?
Step Two: "Rely on Get The Facts evidence and content to make the case for Windows®".
Something tells me that this isn't going to end happily.
Of course this strategy was always doomed to failure, we didn't have to go through all that puff to get here and I'll tell you why -- it's all in the persona pictures. All those user pictures are too clean shaven to ever be a Linux user, how can you convert a Linux user if you've never seen one of their beards?
I rest my case.
1
cyber_rigger - 22/03/07
Now there Linux using non-geeks.
Companies selling desktop Linux
http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/23168/
http://lxer.com/module/db/index.php?dbn=14
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2
tummy2 - 22/03/07
How's this for funny... Shortly after this article was published, MS decides to change its content!
I just went to the linked website in question and guess what it says?
"This material is being updated and will be made available to Microsoft partners shortly."
LOL!
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3
Hans Bezemer - 23/03/07
"Something tells me that this isn't going to end happily". That's an understatement.. I guess most "Linux aficionados" are so well informed, the MS partner will have his laptop formatted and reinstalled before the next coffee break..! ;-)
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4
Ryan - 23/03/07
Hmm something tells me that microsoft isn't doing to well with their operating system. Just check out www.softpedia.com and click on the windows tab. There is pretty much enough evidence that microsoft owns the place, and that the propaganda they are pushing out is a clear sign for trying to breathe life into Vista.
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5
Richard Steven Hack - 23/03/07
"Step One: "Avoid the Microsoft vs Open Source conservation and focus on specific workloads and business and IT pain points instead". Good plan I reckon, what's next?"
IT pain points?
I thought they were ALL caused by Microsoft in the first place!
Not a good idea to remind the IT guy that all his problems are a result of the fact that his proprietary, vendor lock-in product is unreliable, insecure, doesn't scale well, and costs a fortune!
Nah - just take his boss out and buy him a nice dinner and maybe take in a strip show or two. This is how Microsoft sales people work.
And the real pitch of Microsoft to the "Linux Experimenter" boils down to FUD - "None of your Windows products will run (duh!)" - "Your in-house software will become viral!" - "None of your staff will know how to use it! (because nobody trains in this world)!" - "We'll sue Linux out of existence over patents and copyrights!"
And the main Microsoft pitch: "Hey, Bill Gates is the richest man in the world! You gotta problem with that?" (Always appeal to primate hierarchy if nothing else works...)
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6
Whatever - 23/03/07
Funny. First you state that you cannot understand MS with using such a bad campaign to battle Linux - and some lines later you use the most dumb stereotype about Linux users yourself (I actually never saw such a Linux user/admin/whatever...).
Tell me: where is your style of writing any different from this poor MS campaign?
Ah, and btw:
"...everything goes to plan..." Did I miss something? Which plan do you mean?
The "all hail Microsoft" plan to construct a total software monopoly?
Sorry, but I can't see where a monopoly of any kind (software and everwhere else) is any good. But I'm pretty sure you can enlighten me!
Please, write me why all monopolies are bad cross all industries - except all digital systems. I'm eager to hear *that* explanation...
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7
Josh - 23/03/07
You can still see it (for the time being).. go here:
http://www.linuxpersonas.com/uscsi_web.swf
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8
ToKy - 23/03/07
New link to the content (which is very very lame)
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9
Bob Robertson - 24/03/07
Also note how they always say "Find out what version of IIS they are using, suggest they upgrade."
It's as if Microsoft knows perfectly well that their IIS is crap-ware, and will do anything to keep anyone from trying any other server. Always "Try the latest version", never "Go ahead, try it, but we'll be here when it doesn't work."
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10
Tony - 24/03/07
I love statistics, the small text at the bottom of the Meet
the Personas page tells me:
- 70% of Application Driven firms DO NOT prefer
Windows for upcoming server purchases.
- 54% of Linux Experimenter sites (these are largely
Microsoft shops at the moment) DO NOT prefer
Windows for upcoming server purchases.
Sounds like some good soft targets to chase.
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11
Brotherred - 01/04/07
I love the stupidity that MS works with. As if no GNU Linux user will ever find that site. Or that such GNU Linux users would not talk about it in podcasts and get the word out. (www.linuxactionshow.com) This only makes me salivate for the next big leak to be added to the Halloween Docs. Lastly I do not know about the www.softpedia.com web site anymore than what was said here and the fact that I scanned it with Netcraft. Netcraft search said that www.softpedia.com was running on Unix servers and their netblocks were all on GNU Linux. Also just a click or two will show you that the site has software for any OS. Maybe they are preaching Vista but I did not see how in the sort time that I was researching it.
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