Incoming Rounds...Triangulating For Return Fire

Thanks to Dave Kaplan for the links...as well, thank you to my fellow blogger "PV" for posting the incriminating evidence.

AND...from the "this just in" room, we find that MS has been busy little beavers training Staples employees in the finer art of spreading untruths about Linux...I believe we are only seeing the start of this. Thanks to Rich C. for bring this to our attention. EDIT...Rich C has also discovered that Microsoft has spawned their efforts to Office Depot.

Let's just hope your boiling point is fairly high...good blood pressure is a terrible thing to waste.

Trust me.

It is a desperate move...

This one that Microsoft is making...

But should we expect anything else?

Probably not. Audacity is their calling card.

See Microsoft has no problem lying. They don't "misspeak". they don't "mis-represent the facts".

They lie through their gold-capped teeth.

If the above linked post is verified as true, and I have just fairly well verified on my own that it is; then the evidence is irrefutable....

They are liars....at the very best, they are withholding truths.

Or delusional...

All is fair in love and marketing...right?

The story is worth a read before you continue here...it's pretty compelling.

In the story, much is NOT said about the biggest weakness the Linux Operating System endures.

Marketing.

Oh, how did you know I was going to bring that up again? But this time it's different. Maybe a drop in the bucket, but all floods start with a drop.

As do small spring sprinkles.

Two years ago, I approached a guy we call George. George has a fantastic voice and he recorded a few cuts so that when we are ready, we could put some sort of Linux presence on the airwaves. It's been a long, tough road to get to this point.

But it couldn't be just about Linux...you have to tie it to something...a solid entity that could become actionable. That's when I got The Idea for HeliOS Solutions.

See, people have struggled from the beginning of Free Software/Open Source Software as how best to monetize it...to actually make a living from it. It's been a tough slog. Redhat's model seemed to work on a corporate scale.

Why not as a sole proprietorship? One that had the major intent of feeding the HeliOS Project.

In December of 2007, with the invaluable help of Sander Marechel from the Lone Wolves Foundation, the HeliOS Solutions website was build and published to the web as HeliOS Solutions.

Great idea...and we've had limited success with it. As it is now, it is just a speed bump some trip over trying to get to other places...but we have done some business. It now ranges from 50 - 300 dollars a month.

A veritable drop in the bucket....

But all floods start with one drop.

While I was a guest in the home of Mr. Ed Timar, a dear and loved friend (Ed is the one that gave us the money to rebuild the South Texas Montessori School Computer Lab), we had a lot of opportunities to talk. Through those talks, Ed decided that 1200 dollars was cheap enough to settle the argument.

Is Linux via a service company saleable? Is radio the medium to use to reach mass audience?

We are about to find out.

EDIT: many have emailed me and asked to hear the source from which we will cut the ad. It has been posted before but I will post it again for you to hear. Remember, some of this will be cut down to accommodate contact info for HeliOS Solutions.

In less than two weeks, KLBJ AM will run our 60 and 30 second ads. There will be 57 ads run each week for two weeks.

Why 60 second ads? How many of them are we going to run at 60 seconds?

Only 6.

The ads are strategically placed to do the most damage.

Damage?

Yeah Damage.

They will run once an hour for the three hour duration of the Kim Komando Show.

Poetic justice. She all but refuses to talk about Linux on her show.

See...There are three of us who tried for a 9 week period to get on her show. All three of us made it on varying occasions. We never lied. We always told the call screener that we were Linux Users and had a question for Kim. We were simply trying to see if any of us could get on to ask a Linux question.

Ain't gonna happen....ever. Stock Response?

We don't have any Linux Users Listening. I've listened to the program from time to time and it's basically a bunch of hand-holding for TSMC's (task-set mouse clickers).
It can make a Linux user want to weep..."Kim. I have viruses and it says I need to download their program...now my computer won't work at all..."

No Linux users Listening....

Probably not many. If you want Linux radio...I mean real broadcast radio...your best bet is Gutsy Geeks.

So...this is going to be a semi-public experiment. We will try to track sales, calls, responses and outcomes for the HeliOS Solutions commercials.

Flood or short-lived sprinkles...we don't know yet. We believe we might be the first in the US to try this.

Floods or sprinkles...

Either one starts with a single drop.

Let's hope for a deluge.

All-Righty Then