[plug] poll, linmag

[Brenno J.S.A.A.F. de Winter]

Hello,

> So, back to the Linux section of APC.  I think these guys know where the
> money is.  At least, they can afford Market Research.  I am thinking, the
> minute that they get the report:  "Linux Mag Now A Goer - APC Internal
> Market Research", out it will come.  I am thinking that their MR says that
> the Linux market can afford a few pages in their current mag, and that
> advertisers will pay for that space.  Maybe cos a lot of non-linux people
> will read the ads anyway, cos they buy the mag and will flick thru the Linux
> (and Mac etc) sections out of (dis)interest.
The risk is that the Gartners and IDC's of this world don't do a good 
job. I have a hard time convincing customers (during consultancy) trying 
to show them that the market is changing and that Linux is really 
gaining momentum. Until I wrote an article that proved the power of the 
community (how it really is affecting the market) the only view was: 
'everybody uses Microsoft'. A Dutch research showed that three months 
ago 95.1% of hits on pages was IE, in december this was down to 95.0%. 
So nothing changed. When I pointed out that out of 600 million web-users 
apparently 600.000 thousand (support with examples) changed browsers 
they started to see that. If you want convincing evidence you have to 
calculate the market to grow. Convincing such a company may be a hard 
sell (always worth to try). Business cases help out here.

> So what does this mean for LinMagAU or whatever it is to be called?

> 1.	It's going to be hard to get advertisers at this stage.  See 2.
Amazingly this isn't necessarily so. IBM, RedHat, SuSE, etc. recognize 
the potential and are willing to advertise. In the Netherlands that 
wasn't really the issue.

> 2.	It's going to be hard to get readers at this stage.
That is true. This will be the most work. For that reason you have to 
clearly determine what audience your targeting (end-users, geeks, 
businesses). The magazine has to be written in that language.

> 3.	As soon as it looks like there is a market for it, entrenched players are
> going to come in and try to squash you.
Yes, but if you do a good job you've build the name already. I notice 
many times that this really helps. Windows & Networks may be smaller 
(not fancy, very factual and very focussed at administrators) than other 
similar magazines, but we have more authority. As soon as people want to 
address admins, they come to us.

> So, this is the game as I see it.  I will write (or preferably edit) the odd
> article, but it is going to be a terribly hard slog.
Yes it will be and I sincerely hope you'll get the money to start and 
the time to make it a success. Make sure that the plug isn't pulled too 
soon.

> I am happy to put a bit o' effort into the Business Plan, as I think it is
> more likely to lead to a successful magazine than a bunch of randomish
> articles.
Yes, that's the whole deal: Getting your focus right. Just articles will 
end in failure.

Cheers,


Brenno.