Toy Penguins and Male Egos Drove Linux Acceptance 548
An anonymous reader writes "Germany's local and city councils have been pioneering the migration from Windows to Linux. Now, one of the IT staff behind one move has revealed how they persuaded workers to accept the changes. Stuffed toy penguins and Linux t-shirts helped to create an open-source love-in at the council offices, and they got a senior chairwoman to demonstrate the new system to the troops. Male ego stopped anyone claiming that Linux was difficult to use, once they'd seen that the 'weaker sex' could master it :)"
"the 'weaker' sex?" (Score:4, Funny)
Sex Sells (Score:5, Interesting)
It's not surprizing that having a woman demo Linux, people are interested in learning.
What's black and white with poka-dots? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:What's black and white with poka-dots? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sex Sells (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah. I've never seen anything more tragic and discouraging on television. The most amazing thing about that show is that it almost perfectly mirrors the modern workplace.
For that matter, so does Survivor: a group of people get together and decide who to ostracize. A fine example for society.
Re:Sex Sells (Score:5, Funny)
The ratio to good-looking women to men was 2 to 1.
I, for one, welcome our new modern workplace....
Realistic demographic of NYC, actually (Score:5, Funny)
Welcome to New York City! I am one of six straight men in an office of 400 (Facilities staff not taken into account). It truly is refreshing working with so many women.
However, two points worth taking into account:
*Most of the rest are killers looking for someone far above your earning potential.
So come on over! You'll have a great time dating around here.
==---------==
Re:"the 'weaker' sex?" (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, they're making progress!
At least they didn't finish the demo by invading Poland.
Re:"the 'weaker' sex?" (Score:3, Informative)
The article does, however, mention male ego after having seen a woman use the system.
Theres a name for this.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Theres a name for this.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Tux toys & t-shirts sound trivial, but they loosen people up about something that a lot of non-tech types think is "hard". Setting up the "sexist" argument ("Even the women can use this OS") is even appropriate if that's what it takes to make decision-makers come around.
<OFFTOPIC>
Re:Theres a name for this.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Only sort-of true..... (Score:4, Insightful)
If "marketing" really equated with "teaching people about the product", advertisements would point out all the pluses AND minuses.
Linux lacking "marketing" is probably partially because open source developers don't stand to benefit in the long run if everyone goes around heralding their unfinished work as the ultimate solution to a problem. Folks find out it's not, and then they're soured to the whole project. Developers, unlike businesses, are just concerned with building the best product they can build. Marketing is about generating *sales* and bringing in the maximum amount of *profit*. These aren't an integral part of the Linux requirements for existance.
Re:Theres a name for this.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Example (not cut and pasted, just typed in by memory.. this is what happened to my system a few weeks ago):
apt-get update; apt-get upgrade
package-A requires package-B-2.20
downgrading package-B-2.30 to package-B-2.20
package-C requiers package-B >= 2.30
uninstalling package-C..
uninstalling everything that depends on package-C..
I ended up with over fifty things that I had to reinstall, to get my computer back in order after THAT fuckup.
Re:Theres a name for this.... (Score:4, Interesting)
scripsit XO:
Um, you've got a seriously FUBAR apt configuration if that's happening to you. I would suggest unfscking your /etc/apt/preferences for a start...
Seriously, the only time this sort of thing happens is when you're running Unstable or, especially, mixing Unstable packages into a Stable or Testing system -- and then you're intentionally putting yourself on the bleeding edge. The one exception I can recall is the recent and well-documented problem with the switch to GTK2-based Galeon; that only affected Testing, too, not Stable. And it was resolved in a few days; we just used Firebird in the interim.
Re:Theres a name for this.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Though in any case, even word of mouth seems to be doing pretty well. I'm finding it more common for people to mention thinking about using Linux - OK, not huge common, but the fact that it's turning up at all in conversation with non computer geeks is amazing to me.
Re:Theres a name for this.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Commercial software on the other hand, is simply to make money for companies. This is not a bad thing; simply the way the market
Re:Theres a name for this.... (Score:5, Insightful)
The sexist attitude exists in the males they're trying to convince. Not necessarily the marketer. The technique was actually trying to change this perception by preying on the mistaken attitude.
Re:Theres a name for this.... (Score:3, Insightful)
And how do you think this would rub those that do not have the same shortcomming? Such as women? or non-chauvanistic men?
Re:Theres a name for this.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Theres a name for this.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Theres a name for this.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Theres a name for this.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Theres a name for this.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Somehow it leaves me feeling a little uneasy, though. I bet I'd be influenced by the same or similar tactics, even though I've read this article. It leaves my ego a bit worse for the wear to know that I (hell, we!) am so easily swayed by savvy marketing techniques.
Example: even if janet jackson winds up paying fines for her Super Bowl stunt, I'll bet she gets exactly what she intended in terms of sales and publicity. The people she pissed off were never her customers anyway.
Re:Janet Jackson (Score:3, Insightful)
She was disappearing from the public radar.
She was loosing her celebrity status.
On Tuesday following the half time show she was:
on the cover of 8 different magazines at B&N
on the cover of a number of local papers
in the headlines on more magazines and papers
on every news cast
in various articles inside the various media formats
AND,
her name continues to be brought up in obscure places like slashdot.
Re:Janet Jackson (Score:3, Funny)
do we need a how to edit adult pics with gimp tutorial?
Do we need a naked Linux Torvalds in order to promote Sauna - Linux?
Re:Theres a name for this.... (Score:3, Interesting)
The article spends a fair amount of time talking about how they dealt with their proverbial "sticks in the mud" and talking about a few of the benefits of running linux vs. Windows, and then finishes up with the following paragraph:
The name for this isn't MARKETING. (Score:5, Funny)
Just a few minutes ago, Aunt Tilley taught me how to compile my 1st kernel, & when I asked her a question, she refused to answer. I can't remember what she said exactly, but was something to do with man pages, howtos & Google.
f'ing brilliant! (Score:5, Funny)
Gotta keep the spin "Easy enough for *her*, so you can certainly handle it."
Re:f'ing brilliant! (Score:4, Funny)
Deodorant joke, anyone? (Score:4, Funny)
"Easy enough for a woman, made for a man."
=8-]
- shazow
Re:Deodorant joke, anyone? (Score:5, Funny)
Same in US, but unspoken (Score:5, Interesting)
Gotta keep the spin "Easy enough for *her*, so you can certainly handle it."
Yeah, well despite all the lipservice for equality, there's still plenty of cavemen who think only a man can do such-and-such. A remarkable comment on futuristic magazine ads, back in the 50's, projected the lady of the house still doing all the work, just with more high-tech, work-saving tools. Watch day-time TV and the message that men and women have the same roles from back then is still there.
Good leverage. Works with racism as a motivator, too. "Hey, that (insert ethnicity here) can do pretty good with a (insert tool here), guess I better be able to do as well or my arguments of everyone being inferior to (insert own ethnic group here) falls flat."
Americans tend to have a lot of levers, thanks to lingering puritanical attitudes (watch the super bowl half time show? ;-) Careful how you try to apply them at work, though. The spin that "she can do it, so anyone should be" could land your butt on the sidewalk.
PHB's OTOH could probably care less. Hit them with the true TCO and they're half in the pocket. Problem I've run into is most have this dinosaur attitude that Microsoft makes everything easier. If only...
Re:Same in US, but unspoken (Score:5, Insightful)
The American record for the mile is 3:47.69; the women's record is 4:16.71. That is worse then the men's worldwide record of 1895.
There's plenty of thing men can do that women do more poorly, and plenty of things that women can do that men do more poorly.
Re:Same in US, but unspoken (Score:4, Interesting)
Ladies and gentlemen, the voice of reason.
Thanks.
Re:Same in US, but unspoken (Score:4, Insightful)
You are talking about the extremes there. How many women at your workplace can outrun you in the mile?
booth girls (Score:5, Funny)
Re:booth girls (Score:3, Funny)
More like a HARD DRIVE.
Re:booth girls (Score:5, Funny)
Hmm.... (Score:5, Funny)
I'd be sure to try switching to Linux then!
Re:Hmm.... (Score:5, Funny)
Just out of curiosity, what would be the mount options?
No more geek sex jokes ... okay, *one* more (Score:4, Funny)
Hmm.... part 2 (Score:3, Interesting)
After all, i'd much rather prompt the girls to play with my tarballs and give my extension a header first (as long as they don't byte). Then they can finger eachother and play with their nodes while I cool off, before we all compile. I won't dev into the core details, but it would involve loading a large driver and lots of fscking and !banging.
(And remember kids: No networking without a firewall!)
Better?
Re:booth girls (Score:3, Interesting)
The other woman had a great personality and eventually she stopped giving out post cards demonstrating a technical application to victi... potential customers. It was amazing how much more attentive the demonstratee was with her. I don't know if it's becau
Re:booth girls (Score:3, Interesting)
When Art Fry, the inventor of Post-It notes, first attempted to pitch the innovation at 3-M he received a lukewarm response. He then distributed samples to some 3-M secretaries who quickly found new uses for them . It's now one of the 5 top-selling office products.
the history of the post-it note [snopes.com]
Re:booth girls (Score:5, Funny)
Male ego driving Linux? (Score:4, Funny)
Reverse psychology... (Score:5, Insightful)
'cept for those of us who learned the game and call the bluff with "sure, go right ahead"
Re:Reverse psychology... (Score:5, Interesting)
But if you can't lift more than they can, by all means send them along to somebody that can.
Oh, and just because they are using a trick on you doesn't mean they don't need your help. Just smile and say "Sure, but next time just ask instead of playing the mind games." Being a jerk doesn't allow you to change behaviour -- or get dates for that matter.
Re:Reverse psychology... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Reverse psychology... (Score:3, Insightful)
The "sure, but just ask" sends the dual message "not a sap" AND "not an ass".
Re:Reverse psychology... (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, I do. Assholes get laid. "Nice guys" don't. Sorry.
Speaking as a "nice guy" I call bullshit.
Every woman will have a different set of criteria for finding you attractive or unattractive.
I really ought to write a book or at least a HOWTO. In the meantime let me suggest two behaviours that will help:
1. Honesty. This is a challenge: the most important thing is to be honest with yourself which is _really_ difficult. I'm lucky enough to have been with women who've told me honestly what I needed to improve on. I'm still working on it
2. Assertiveness. From my experience most (not all) women don't like a guy to be too submissive. They like a dude to have a spine. This doesn't mean you should be nasty and forceful, just don't be a doormat. Some women like to wear the pants in a relationship but most seem to not appreciate being forced into that position.
Cheers
Stor
WHAT?!?!? (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe we should rethink our strategies...
Commercialism? (Score:4, Insightful)
Geek girl? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Geek girl? (Score:5, Funny)
What about ./ personals? There are plenty! (Score:3, Interesting)
It's brilliant (Score:5, Insightful)
That's brilliant marketing to use a female rep to demo a product to a bunch of men.
A lot of companies would do well to follow that example, I think.
Re:It's brilliant (Score:4, Insightful)
You mean like beer companies?
Re:It's brilliant (Score:5, Funny)
Yup, sincerity is the hardest part. Once you can fake that, you're golden...
Women love Linux too :) (Score:5, Interesting)
pic [nccomp.com]
Re:Women love Linux too :) (Score:3, Funny)
They forgot to mention... (Score:3, Funny)
Old habits die hard... (Score:5, Insightful)
Using it to your advantage is not the same thing as working to eliminate it.
Re:Old habits die hard... (Score:4, Insightful)
Using marketing is only natural. It works, and it works very well is all aspects of life, not just technology.
Re:Old habits die hard... (Score:3, Insightful)
I think a lot of Slashdotters have read more into this story than they should...
They deliberately choose a spokeswoman based on pushing the "If she can do it, so can I" male ego button. The reverse of that, which you suggest they also pushed, does not hold true. If the implicit sexism didn't exist, their approach simply would not have worked.
In no way would insulting a guy's ego b
I hate male ego (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know if it is in our genes, or if it's a product of our environment, but male ego resulting from male dominance even affects me a ton.
I was running on a treadmill earlier this week, and there was a girl who was running on one next to me at the same time, at roughly the same speed. There was _no_ way I was going to let myself stop before she did--because she was a girl. And I recognized this as I was running.
Seems kind of silly, I know, but that's what was in my head.
*I've heard that posting anonymously at slashdot isn't really, so what's the difference?
have some fun! (Score:5, Insightful)
when I'm out running along a well used path in my town, there is no fucking way I can live with a woman running infront of me. At times this put me close to a heart-attack. But I have all the more fun because this kind of stuff. Same thing, when I try to overtake someone who is barely slower than me. heh.
Man, this is oart of the fun of life! As long as you realize, that your life does not depend on being cooler/stronger/faster/whatever I consider it good-natured fun. After all, where would be in technology without some good ol' testosterone-driven competition?
plus, women have some fun --uhm, let's call them characteristics to laugh about
Re:I hate male ego (Score:5, Insightful)
You can either accept that you're an animal with instincts, and learn how to control them/live with them, or you can deny your basic nature and keep banging your head against the wall. The choice is yours. The upshot on the former is, everyone else is governed by those same instincts, so you can use them to help get people to do what you want them to.
Re:I hate male ego (Score:5, Interesting)
I do too...
I don't like that if a girl can do it, any man can...I can do a lot of things with a computer that many men can't do. I work hard to learn all that I can and I don't like that when I am up against a man, everyone automatically listens to what he says over me. I know what I'm talking about, I've been using computers longer than everyone that I know. When I go into a computer store all the clerks swarm to help the poor, defenseless, dumb girl buy expensive things for her computer. It really bugs me. Don't question my intelligence, I know what I'm doing.
I think its an excellent way to market linux to a bunch of men, but it still bugs me that people think like that.
Re:I hate male ego (Score:3, Informative)
That said, if I have the choice, I prefer a female tech/mechanic/(fill in typically-male-job) because they tend to be the best, having had to overcome bias AND having had the guts to stick with it.
Out of curiosity, are you the type of woman who is offended tha
Re:I hate male ego (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I hate male ego (Score:3, Informative)
I went to the gym the other day to do some weight training and I wanted to get warmed up first. I decided that a gentle jog on the treadmill would get the blood moving. As soon as I started jogging a really pretty girl got on the treadmill next to me and started running and I ended running a lot faster and longer than I had originally intended to and my weight training suffered because of it.
The worst part is that I knew exactly what I was doing, but I did it anyway.
Re:I hate male ego (Score:4, Insightful)
I learnt this fact of life allready when I was 16, and I think it probably helped me avoid a too-inflated ego...: It was at the end of one of my first mountain triathlon, and after three hours of running a was totally exhausted. Just before the final hard climb, there was this girl, one year younger than me, who just parked me completely.
You bet, if you meet one of those one the threadmill next to you, and you awaken her competition instinct, you'll find yourself dying at the end of the threadmill at the end of the day... :-)
If BSD weren't dying... (Score:5, Interesting)
The Perception is the Reality (Score:5, Insightful)
It doesn't matter if your systems are uber-fast. It doesn't matter if they have a low error rate. It doesn't matter if they are made to be user friendly.
If the users of those systems perceive they are slow, inefficient, hard to use, great, best machines ever - whatever they percieve, that is the reality.
So a good IT staff does two things:
1. Work on their C. I. A. pieces.
2. Work to help the users percieve their systems as being C. I. A. good.
Let's face it - this is why Microsoft is on 90-odd% of all desktop systems out there: people percieve their systems as working, as easy to use, and that everything else is inferior whether that is true or not.
Once you convince them that a Linux or Mac desktop works just as well - if not faster and more securely - on their desk as a Windows box, and that they can use the same kinds of applications, you're set.
I've had IT guys whom I respect greatly tell me they'd love to switch to "OS X", but don't want to because they fear the "learning curve". It's not a "noobie" issue at all - perception clouds everything.
And Brauner made the right calls. To those who had problems, he showed them how it was easy. To those who thought he was being mean, he displayed himself as a "fun guy" with shirts and toys. To those who thought the system was "hard" he showed a secretary doing her job with ease - the person that all my programming teachers taught me to program interface for, since "if a secretary can run it, anybody can".
Excellent work on his part for recognizing that the human element is as important as the technical one at times.
Women can use Linux now? (Score:5, Funny)
You know what that means? (Score:5, Funny)
The number of people using hurd just doubled!
But consider this ... (Score:4, Insightful)
I can just see the marketing people on the other side *cough* those convicted monopolists, remember them ? the guys who claim the GPL should be stamped out ? *cough* making hay with this.. ?
"Ooh, we don't manipulate you", they'll coo. "We just give you a product that you know and is easy to use". And heck, if that doesn't work, they'll just add a whopping discount on top of it to seal the bargain.
Maybe I'm just egotistic myself, but if I heard that I had been manipulated into something I wasn't sure about, and if I heard about it later on (with a "ha ha ha. owned!" comment, to boot), I'd be quite wary of the next thing that particular guy tried to foist on me.
Which brings me to the question.. does OSS really need marketshare like this ? It's just me, probably, but I'd prefer people make an informed choice rather than go "hey, why don't we use this because we don't want to be outdone/look foolish". If you can convince people to install it that easily, they'll just as easily be swayed by the next marketing gimmick, and which side (OSS or the other guys) have more marketing muscle ?
Amusing (Score:5, Funny)
Good to know that Linux wins on technical merit and avoids the kind of gimmicks used by other big name software vendors
In a reversal: Linux made me eat at Macdonalds (Score:3, Funny)
The only thing stopping Linux... (Score:5, Interesting)
For a long time, I've been a huge proponent of ease-of-use. While I respected Linux from a technical perspective, I've long been dissapointed in it from an ease-of-use perspective.
That all changed the last time I tried Linux. Knoppix, to be exact. It was jaw-droppingly impressive to me: the hardware recognition; the ease-of-use; the clean interface (KDE, in this case, though I suspect GNOME is just as nice); everything was polished and smooth.
And then it hit me, there are only two things stopping Linux from making deep inroads into the desktop market these days:
1. Drivers, drivers, drivers. Not enough hardware makers are bothering with drivers for Linux. Kudos to all the Linux folks writing drivers, but Linux is always at least a step or two behind. However, this problem may be solved if the project that allows Windows drivers to work under Linux is successful.
2. Inertia. Everyone uses Windows, therefore...everyone keeps using Windows.
My hope is that the low cost of Linux will keep driving people into its loving arms.
So...how does this post apply to the topic at hand? Simple: anyone who has given modern distributions of Linux a chance already knows what I know: Linux is just as easy to use as Windows these days (or close enough that it doesn't matter), and the only thing holding Linux back now are the two items I listed above. Anyone who claims modern distributions of Linux are too hard to use probably shouldn't be using computers at all.
-Teckla
1 is a direct consequence of 2 (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, this isn't true anymore, and slowly, as more people are using Linux, more companies are realizing that Linux is worth supporting.
This doesn't apply just to drivers, it applies to specialized software as well.
Re:The only thing stopping Linux... (Score:5, Insightful)
Frankly, I don't want most hardware makers to be writing lots of Linux drivers. I want them to build their stuff to use documented protocols (USB/Firewire/IDE/etc.) correctly so that their hardware Just Works everywhere. That way, I can pick up a piece of new hardware and have it run without any obnoxious CD loading, file downloading or kernel module installation whatsoever.
That's the sort of ease-of-use we should be encouraging.
Well, root, on my Linux box, receives no spam... (Score:5, Funny)
Note to Microsoft (Score:4, Funny)
i would decribe this... (Score:4, Funny)
women trust women. and men like to look at breast.
Women... (Score:5, Funny)
harder to understand than klingon,
harder to handle than SAP,
harder to resist than an open telnet port...
Ain't women what we all do this for ?
It's not that hard, stupid! (Score:3, Interesting)
So... how hard is it, really?
Its What you are used to (Score:3, Interesting)
This is a great day (Score:5, Funny)
- Write free software
- Promote using techie bimbo and assortment of stuffed toys (was: ???)
- Profit!
A great day indeed.B29 Strategy (Score:4, Interesting)
The male pilots decided that it was flyable when a crew of female pilots were trained to fly it.
The Holy Roman Catholic Church (Score:4, Interesting)
So when men are amazed at women's ability to use Linux, their amazement can be attributed to the work of the early Roman Catholic Church, which continues today.
IFO was sold on Linux not by a woman, but by a penguin. I don't know how where the Church comes in there. The nuns in the catholic school I went to as a kid looked a lot like penguins. But I was never attracted to them. Really.
Re:The Holy Roman Catholic Church (Score:4, Informative)
Well, well, trolling against a religious group I see... I'm not in the habit of defending organised religion, but you're making my bullshit radar go off the chart.
Women in ancient times were revered as sacred vessels of fertility. Constantine, later rulers and the Catholic Popes did their best to destroy the idea of goddess worship and make the women a secondary being, which was a major factor in shaping our society today.
Yeah, next you're gonna claim that women had the right to vote in Athens huh?
First of all, Judaism started a pogrom against godess worship 3 thousand years before that.
Secondly, women have been considered the weaker sex in china and japan for aeons too, where they hadn't even heard of the Catholic church. Women in china and japan were forbidden from learning to write, so they had to make up their own "women's language". Hiragana and Katakana in japan, and I forget the name of the chineese one.
What, did the catholic church pray for the heatens to embrace that woman-bellitteling you pretend they invented?
And finally, the reason women are considered the weaker sex is because they are weaker. Is the roman catholic church also responsible for secretly weakening female olympians so that they would systematically achive lower performances than that of the mens? What secret roman catholic magic powers did they use to accomplish that? The gap has been shortening in recent decades thanks to illicit drugs and homone treatments (see the east-germany women's olympic swimming team from 1976 and 1980...scary!), but women still lift less, swim and run slower, etc.
Jeez, using anti-sexism to spread racism...that's something.
Re:Which one? (Score:4, Informative)
Part of bigger move to Open Source in German Govt (Score:4, Informative)
The difference with MS is that while using SuSE, due to the nature of Open Source they are not tied to and reliant on a single vendor. This is just the latest town to so convert, albeit with interesting staff-persuasion tactics!
Re:So Just how screwed up are these companies?!?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Ever heard the phrase "you attract more flies with honey than vinegar?" Honestly, I'd rather work for someone who is respectful of my concerns and seeks to answer them (even in a devious way), than someone who just scoffs at them and says "Shut up and get back to work." Even the military, the only employer who can throw you in jail or have you shot for not doing what you're told, tends to be relatively light handed in how it encourages its members to use new systems.
Re:So Just how screwed up are these companies?!?! (Score:3, Insightful)
You're missing the point. That approach doesn't provide the free publicity.
Is there any subject in existance where the Male Ego doesn't apply?
Most people are sheep. They follow the rules of society without thought and most of them wouldn't even realise they are following set rules.
Men and women have their roles to play, and any deviation is seen as weird and undesirable.
Wear a pin
Re:So Just how screwed up are these companies?!?! (Score:5, Interesting)
Deciphering all the typos in that post was an interesting experience...
Regardless, the main point - that a corporation is a dictatorship - is factually correct. However, if you treat your employees as if they have no valuable opinions on the tools they will be using to do their jobs, then you will lose buy in, and have a revolt.
The employees aren't exactly going to be turning up at their manager's door with pitch-forks and flaming torches, but they are going to be grumbling, moaning, bitching, whining, and likely looking for another job. Successful companies retain staff by ensuring they feel valued.
Basically, treating your employees like shit gets you nothing but shit employees. Acting in a dictatorial manner simply because you can simply creates more problems than it solves. It is vital in large scale change projects to ensure that people at least feel like they've been consulted, even if you end up ignoring everything they've said.
The productivity lost in replacing numbers of employees would be far more costly than simply throwing some toy penguins and a blonde bimbo into the equation.
I am, of course, assuming that once the buy in was created by the "weaker sex" and toy penguin strategy there is sufficient training and backup in place - without which the entire project is doomed to failure anyway.
Not a great idea (Score:3, Insightful)
Right, that's a good management style. Make unilateral, completely unpopular decisions with no effort to win people over or assuage their fears. Great management style. In general, having employees not hate management is a good thing. Especially since all it cost here was a couple of t-shirts and stuffed toys.
How about this approach... "Use the damned soft