On Tue, Apr 20, 1999 at 01:28:01AM -0400, Matthew Orgass wrote:
> On Tue, 20 Apr 1999, Thor Lancelot Simon wrote:
> 
> > We have such a thing: "Of course it runs NetBSD."  I was on the hook for a
> > logo (or, more precisely, my SO, who works at a design firm, was) but it
> > keeps getting put on the back burner by other projects -- I'll see if I
> > can speed it up.
> 
>   I don't know the history of this slogan, but I have to say that from a
> marketing point of view it has serious flaws:
> 
> 1) It does not identify what the product is

Um, "The Power To Serve" does?  How about "Cool! It runs Linux!"  I think 
both of those are _much_ better than the two examples you give below of
NetBSD slogans, which are widely acknowledged among the developers at least
to Just Suck.

> 2) It is the answer to a question which should not need to be asked in the
> first place

"should not need to be"?  Unfortunately, all too often it is.  And the
"answer" rather indicates that, of course.

> 3) It does not directly associate any qualities with NetBSD

You may have me there -- though I'd suggest that running on damn near
everything is a fairly useful quality, perhaps that quality is not "directly
associated" by the slogan.

>   The two other slogans I have often seen used with NetBSD are much
> better: "The World's Most Portable Operating System" and "Multi-platform
> OS".
> 
>   While having a good slogan does not guarantee marketing success, it does
> help the same amount of marketing attract more people.

If you think those two are "good slogans" I think while I appreciate the
intent I'll have to consider your advice on marking is rather untrustworthy...

FWIW "Of course it runs NetBSD." is mine, with some help from the marketing
guy where I used to work, who used to do image campaigns for an ad agency.
I could take it or leave it, but it sure beats "Multi-platform OS", and
when I suggested it it was pretty popular with the other developers, so we
went with it.

Thor