Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on March 01, 2005 07:09 AM
I think you're unduly harsh on the KDE press team.
To begin with, it isn't what we send out to journalists. The idea is to combine a wordier announcement with a concise press release that you won't see unless you're a journalist on the press list. Journalists are notoriously lazy - to an extent this is justifiable when you're bombarded with press releases and boring news tips - so you feed them the snappy press release, then point them to the announcement where they can harvest a little more information and some more quotable text.
Regarding your comment that "both projects focus disproportionately on minor changes relevant only with respect to previous releases", that is quite obviously false. The relevant part of the announcement (also present but cropped in the press release) starts by listing new applications. It then lists some enhancements that, under the heading of "Integration of desktop components", show how the product has come on in leaps and bounds in this important area. Finally, in the announcement (but not in the PR) we list some small and vaguely interesting enhancements to show that the new release brings a slew of minor adjustments, and that the KDE team aren't just plugging away at big fancy features.
If you're in any doubt as to how well it worked, have a look at <A HREF="http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,39163697,00.htm" title="zdnet.co.uk">this article on ZDNet</a zdnet.co.uk> which basically picks up on an interesting angle from the PR and then interviews as KDE developer. The press release did it's job perfectly.
Sure, few free software projects have managed to match Firefox, but then few projects have a product that is in itself as newsworthy, and that can provide journalists with such exciting angles. I laid out this argument and various others in an article for the Free Software magazine, which readers can find <A HREF="http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/free_issues/issue_02/guerrilla-marketing/" title="freesoftwaremagazine.com">here</a freesoftwaremagazine.com>.
Doing press work part time is exceedingly difficult... good coverage usually requires at least a full time week of preparation, writing the PR, sending it out, following up with journalists and doing other groundwork. Maybe you'd like to get involved with the press / promotion / marketing team of a project to lend a hand?
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On the KDE 3.3 PR
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on March 01, 2005 07:09 AMTo begin with, it isn't what we send out to journalists. The idea is to combine a wordier announcement with a concise press release that you won't see unless you're a journalist on the press list. Journalists are notoriously lazy - to an extent this is justifiable when you're bombarded with press releases and boring news tips - so you feed them the snappy press release, then point them to the announcement where they can harvest a little more information and some more quotable text.
Regarding your comment that "both projects focus disproportionately on minor changes relevant only with respect to previous releases", that is quite obviously false. The relevant part of the announcement (also present but cropped in the press release) starts by listing new applications. It then lists some enhancements that, under the heading of "Integration of desktop components", show how the product has come on in leaps and bounds in this important area. Finally, in the announcement (but not in the PR) we list some small and vaguely interesting enhancements to show that the new release brings a slew of minor adjustments, and that the KDE team aren't just plugging away at big fancy features.
If you're in any doubt as to how well it worked, have a look at <A HREF="http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/linuxunix/0,39020390,39163697,00.htm" title="zdnet.co.uk">this article on ZDNet</a zdnet.co.uk> which basically picks up on an interesting angle from the PR and then interviews as KDE developer. The press release did it's job perfectly.
Sure, few free software projects have managed to match Firefox, but then few projects have a product that is in itself as newsworthy, and that can provide journalists with such exciting angles. I laid out this argument and various others in an article for the Free Software magazine, which readers can find <A HREF="http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/free_issues/issue_02/guerrilla-marketing/" title="freesoftwaremagazine.com">here</a freesoftwaremagazine.com>.
Doing press work part time is exceedingly difficult... good coverage usually requires at least a full time week of preparation, writing the PR, sending it out, following up with journalists and doing other groundwork. Maybe you'd like to get involved with the press / promotion / marketing team of a project to lend a hand?
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