The world has gone 2.0 mad. Since Tim O’Reilly gave us Web 2.0, everything needs to be version 2.0. It was only a matter of time before marketing folks got into this, and even the local Metro free sheet is carrying articles about Marketing 2.0. They quote Dr.Paul Marsden of the LSE:

Marketing 1.0 was all command and control: we talk, you listen. Marketing 2.0 is based on the philosophy of connect and collaborate.

If this is correct, I think it’s great news for OpenOffice.org (which of course is now well into version 2 - with a minor bug fix release 2.2.1 out later this month). More people start using OpenOffice.org 2 through personal recommendation than through any other route. If you discover a great piece of software, and you can legally give it away, why wouldn’t you?

Co-incidentally I’ve been exchanging emails with Don Parris, one of the leaders of the Tux500 campaign, and Ben Horst, who led the NY Metro ad for OpenOffice.org. These campaigns are great fun, and I have to praise the energy of the people who lead them. But I’ve never been convinced they fit comfortably with the marketing strategy for open-source products.

Maybe I now have a reason - they’re just too Marketing 1.0

This entry was posted on Monday, June 4th, 2007 at 9:17 pm and is filed under Open-source, OpenOffice.org. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.