[ Thanks to Russ
Foster for this link. ]
“In the IT industry, having a good product does not always
guarantee your company good sales. As you read this article,
somebody, somewhere, could be developing a product which has the
potential to take the industry by storm. However, if they haven’t
got the resources to market their product, it may never see the
light of day. But if the product is that good, does it need
marketing?”
“In 1991 a university student named Linus Torvalds created the
Linux operating system. Torvalds broadcast his creation of a
working kernel via a newsgroup on the internet, and this
announcement drew the attention of programmers worldwide, who were
keen to get involved with the project. The development of Linux
continued from there, with Linus Torvalds overseeing the
development whilst still working on the kernel along with
programmers from around the world, via the internet. Linux got it’s
first full official release in 1994, by which time it had evolved
into a powerful operating system.”
“Since that first official release, Linux has slowly and
steadily gained market share. Recently though, the popularity and
demand for Linux has increased dramatically. Linux now has second
place in the OS server market and it’s growth rate ranges from good
in some countries, to phenomenal in others (Linux’s share of the
Japanese OS server market grew 666% last year). All of this has
been achieved with little marketing. There are different
distributions of Linux which are boxed and sold commercially, and
those companies obviously market their products. But aside from
that, the only marketing Linux gets comes from independent
organisations, word of mouth and the press. Linux has certainly
come far, and considering the lack of PR and marketing support it
has received, this has been achieved on Linux’s own merits.”