Article by George Norman

On 07 Apr 2009

With the whole world focused on Microsoft’s Laptop Hunters ad campaign that keeps on dissing Apple and it’s products (the latest ad features Giampaolo who says Mac are so sexy, but they are more about esthetics that about performance – details here), one might be tempted to forget that the Linux Foundation is working on a properly good ad of its own.

Just as a little reminder, the Linux Foundation launched a competition challenging Linux fans to come up with a user created ad that would showcase “just what Linux means to those who use it.” Users came up with original content, the Linux Foundation filtered all the submissions and fans all over the world voted for their favorite ad, and now we are left with a short list of finalists.


“The journey that began during last football season with the realization that Microsoft paid Jerry Seinfeld $10 million for his appearance in their ads is almost over. The judging for the We’re Linux video contest has been completed and I’m pleased to announce the finalists. These videos reflect the best of what was truly a global community effort with videos being submitted from Asia, Europe, North America, the Middle East and South America. The response exceeded all of our expectations: frankly I was worried we’d get 20 entries, but we ended up getting over 90. We would like to thank all of the community members who took the time to submit videos. Many were smart, many were funny, all were creative,” explains The Linux Foundation.

If you are curious to see which ads made it to the final stage of the competition, here is a list:
1. The future is open – view here.
2. The origin…– view here.
3. Linux Ad – What does it mean to be free? – view here.
4. Challenges at the office – view here.
5. Linux Pub – view here (no subtitles) and here (with subtitles).

The winning video will be presented at the Linux Foundation’s Collaboration Summit in San Francisco, on the 8th of April.

Getting back to the Laptop Hunters ad campaign, we already covered how Giampaolo did not get what he wanted and how his statement about Mac beings underpowered is not exactly accurate (what else would you expect from a Microsoft ad?). But in an ironic twist of events it seems that not even Microsoft employees agree with Giampaolo’s statement.

“What is it about the MacBook listed here that doesn’t meet your needs? Looks like it has power enough to run all the mainstream apps I can think of. It’s certainly portable. I have no idea what the realistic battery life is for the new 13” MacBook. The specs say 5 hours of wireless productivity. That’s pretty good. I have a last generation MacBook Pro. I purchased it new in November of 2007. It isn’t the current generation but it’s plenty powerful,” said Microsoft Technology Wiz, Keith Combs.



Tags: Linux, Linux Foundation, We Are Linux, Ad

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