[PLUG] Linux in advertising

[Neil Anuskiewicz]

I was browsing a magazine rack and noticed an interesting Ad on the back 
on _The Economist_ magazine:

Unbreakable

Linux

[Picture of a 4 computer cluster]

4 Computer Cluster with Linux

Everyone Knows Linux costs less
Now it's faster and more reliable too

Oracle


Note: The "Unbreakable Linux" bit was in very large font.

I found this ad interesting because the way the ad is presented it is 
*Linux* that is the main selling point not the name of the company running 
the ad (Oracle). It is also interesting to note that database is not 
mentioned anywhere in the ad.

These sorts of ads seem to me to be good PR for Linux because they present 
Linux as a stable, reliable OS.

Also, on the same magazine rack I leafed through _Business 2.0_ and they 
had an article about how Oracle's sales culture is backfiring on it. 
According to this article Oracle's renowned aggressive and even 
underhanded sales tactics are backfiring on it.

Apparently, the culture at Oracle encouraged a take no prisinors approach 
to sales. In fact, the sales manager at the time was called Ghengis Khan. 
In many cases salespeople from Oracle were deceptive, went around, 
through, and over people they were dealing with and generally did whatever 
it took to make the sale. Now, according to this article, there is a 
backlash against them for these tactics and it will probably take them 
awhile to live down this Mongol Hordes image.

In other words these tactics helped them in the short run and hurt them in 
the long run.


-- 
Neil Anuskiewicz