Linux car in Indy 500?

[land0]

http://tux500.com/index.php

This is one of the most ingenuous projects I have come across in a long time that is trying to promote Linux in the real world. The thought of Tux flashing the whole world in the Indy 500 is just priceless.

I put 5 dollars in the pot for Debian.

[Kerr]

I think it's a stupid idea, because:
1)Nobody outside North-America cares about/knows anything about the Indy500(you need Rally, F1 to get the rest of the world's attention).
2)IMHO Motos sports are not a real sports.
3)Most cameras only focus on the winning car, so you'll have to cough up lots of money before you can sponser a potential winner(nobody cares about the last cars).

[chealer]

Please post such stuff in the Offtopic forum in the future.

[rickh]

There have been many many columns written about Linux's need to come up with methods of generic promotion ... promotions that all distributions can join without any particular personal advantage.

This effort may well provide a model for that kind of cooperative effort. If a couple people can get together and raise $350,000 in 40 days ... What will that say to the world about the power of the Linux community?

[hcgtv]

1)Nobody outside North-America cares about/knows anything about the Indy500(you need Rally, F1 to get the rest of the world's attention).

In the days of Unser, Indy was all American, nowadays the drivers are international. Many of them come from F1 racing.

2)IMHO Motos sports are not a real sports.

I've worked many races, it's a grueling event.

[bluesdog]

3)Most cameras only focus on the winning car, so you'll have to cough up lots of money before you can sponser a potential winner(nobody cares about the last cars).

I suspect the sheer novelty of a penguin-decorated race car would suffice to attract the attention of even the most jaded cameraman

[land0]

Please post such stuff in the Offtopic forum in the future.

Will do.

[ghostdawg]

Any advertisement is better than no advertisement. This is just one nation helping to do it's part of promotion.

Now if other nations do something similar. The key is getting the word out about Linux!

[bobm77]

I wanted to answer the poster who said that the Indy 500 doesn't have international appeal... I think the numbers at our site speak for themselves... 40% of our donations have come from outside the US, and we've received donations from 20 different countries.

http://tux500.com/stats.php

Oh, and debian users have contributed the 3rd highest total of any distro... thanks everyone!

Bob
Tux500.com

[plugwash]

I wanted to answer the poster who said that the Indy 500 doesn't have international appeal... I think the numbers at our site speak for themselves... 40% of our donations have come from outside the US

so what you are saying is less than half have come from outside the USA despite the USA population being only a tiny fraction of the world population.

also many geeks will support this because you have turned it into a race between distros so many will donate for distro wars reasons rather than because they support the main goal.

[bobm77]

I wanted to answer the poster who said that the Indy 500 doesn't have international appeal... I think the numbers at our site speak for themselves... 40% of our donations have come from outside the US

so what you are saying is less than half have come from outside the USA despite the USA population being only a tiny fraction of the world population.

also many geeks will support this because you have turned it into a race between distros so many will donate for distro wars reasons rather than because they support the main goal.

sigh... does everything have to be so confrontational? i understand that some people don't agree with what we're doing... or would do it another way...

that said, given that this is, according to some, an event that no-one is interested in outside of the united states, and that the tux500 program has largely been publicized on english-speaking websites, i'd say that 40% isn't bad at all

and as for turning this into a race between distros, why is there anything wrong with a little friendly competition? after all, the final goal of this program benefits all of us.

[Dargor]

wow, kubuntu and ubuntu are pretty much the same distro, and the both double Debian, that's impressive, might i just ask how much of that is from the company that's been pouring money into the project.

[DeanLinkous]

whats racing and why does linux need to be popular and I would rather donate to provide linux t-shirts to the poor or homeless.....

[dmn_clown]

whats racing

Cars driving around in circles that sometimes smack into the wall at excessive amounts of speed causing spectacular crashes. Basically an excuse for the populace to get together, soak up some sun, and get rip-roaring drunk.

and why does linux need to be popular and I would rather donate to provide linux t-shirts to the poor or homeless.....

That would be a better goal than a one off sponsorship of a race car, what about donating computers installed with GNU/Linux to Habitat for Humanity?

[b4k4]

the previous two posts are right.
we shouldn't condone the wanton waste of fossil fuels and consequent contribution to global warming that car racing entails.

However, Linux does need to be popular, before nasty things happen, such as microsoft and adobe dreaming up some new way of viewing the web that only works on windows.

Recently one of my students showed me a Linux article in a popular science magazine, and said, "look, here's that free software you like". I was a bit disappointed with his choice of phrase, since he and all other students in my school use Debian or Ubuntu on a daily basis. I would have been much happier had he said, "that free software we use", but he didn't.

I say get an ad in Time or Newsweek. or on TV.
Didn't Mozilla do something similar?

Even better, find a way to get some popular people to endorse Linux.

[mdevour]

It is so much easier to criticize somebody else's effort... than it is to get out there and do anything of comparable worth.



Mike D.

[DeanLinkous]

I m not sure it is criticism. I do not CARE that they are doing this. I am not criticising what THEY want to do. But for me - I would not choose this. I am glad they are choosing to do something that feels good to them. But do not think that everyone has to agree or that means they are critiscising it.

When I start a movement to give linux t-shirts to the homeless then feel free to say that spending it on a racing car would further linux more. I may even agree with you on that point but raise the point that it has other benefits as well.

I think it should be FREE SOFTWARE instead of just LINUX on the car anyway. Put too much power in one package and you are setting up...well a single point of failure.

[llivv]

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[mdevour]

When I start a movement to give linux t-shirts to the homeless ...

I'll be there cheering you on!

Mike D.

[dmn_clown]

It is so much easier to criticize somebody else's effort... than it is to get out there and do anything of comparable worth.



Mike D.

I wasn't criticizing the effort, by all means good luck in having a Linux sponsored car in the Indy 500.

My personal priorities, however, are a bit different. Clothing for the homeless and computers for the poor are more my style.