[plug] Letter micro-update

[Colin Muller]

On Sun, May 26, 2002 at 10:28:43PM +0800, Leon Brooks wrote:
> Aak! It's growing! (-:
> 
>     http://cyberknights.com.au/SLAM/SLAM-dunk.html

Makes me think that what would be useful is a set of flyers in
OO/PDF/RTF format, with Web equivalents available, each addressing a
particular facet of what it means to be open-source, interoparable,
etc. Then when in it comes to writing to someone, it's just a matter
of a brief covering letter, plus the inclusion of whichever flyers are
appropriate to the occasion. Sample flyer titles:

- Security: The proprietary threat, the open-source solution
- Education: How Linux saves costs and leaves teachers free to teach
- Politics: Can the nation afford not to develop its IT skills through
  OSS?
- Economics: Open-Source, the answer to your TCO Woes!

Okay, the titles aren't entirely serious, but you get the idea.

And that's not all! When it comes to paper mail, direct marketers find
that an envelope containing several pieces of paper, ideally of
different sizes and/or folded differently, with a certain redundancy
or repetition or overlap in the points made on each, is more effective
than one containing a single letter. Some weird psychology at work
there, but it could mean that letter-plus-flyers are more effective
than a single well-reasoned letter.

I'm cc'ing this to oss-au for if/when the discussion moves over there:
http://www.twobluedots.com.au/mailman/listinfo/oss-au

Colin