[Zope] Linux Expo & PR & Wired

[Robert OConnor]

Hi Paul,

>We are focusing on Linux Expo (May 18-22, www.linuxexpo.org) as a focus
>point for us where a number of things are going to come together:
>1) I'll be giving a speech on the business track about Open Source and
>Venture Capital. 

I'm thrilled to see you promoting ZOPE.  If you havn't seen
the May issue of WIRED you should check it out.  There are three
articles of interest:

1) "Open Season - - why an industry of cutthroat competition is 
suddenly deciding good karma is great business --"  
Has graph that shows the ONLY OS gaining market share is 
Linux. ('97 to '98).  Another shows Apache moving from 
45% to 54% Jan 98 to Jan 99. And more interesting
a 25 person Lan: Microsoft vs Linux including
support:  $21,453 vs $5,544

2) "Tour de Source -- A guide to the Start-ups" 
22 Open Source companies listed in table
Alas, Digital Creations is not listed :-)  Four companies with
only 10 employees are listed.  How big is 
Digital Creations now?

3) "Free Enterprise -- An open source success story--"
Good story of Cobalt a company that sells 
Linux servers: Cube, RaQ, CacheQube etc...
Hey, I could see ZOPE being bundled in a Cobalt box
either directly or perhaps more quickly as a
VAR product.

>2) We are working with a professional PR firm (read: expensive) to
>coordinate a branding overhaul and PR push.  We are positioning Zope as
>an application server focusing on community portals.  The
>under-discussion brand of the company is "unleashing potential", which
>is based on Open Source, community portal, safely delegating control,
>and through-the-web everything.  The PR firm will cultivate opinion
>makers in advance, schedule one-on-one interviews, and make appropriate
>press releases.


Even though the PR firm is expensive, I hope they are good,
i mean,  GREAT !   Hopefully they are into the web and 
the computer industry and can get coverage with some
of the previously mentioned contacts in infoworld,
linuxworld, wired etc....

>4) We are coordinating some software efforts to coincide with the show.
>For instance, beta1 of Zope2 will be ready by then, knock on wood.
>Also, some efforts to fill out our portal story (such as Membership,
>Catalog, etc.) will land.


I'd love to hear more information about the community portal idea.
I know of a few organizations that would benefit from their own portals.
Anyone doing this yet?  -- even alpha or beta?

>As part of the PR push we need some of you out there to ride the wave
>with us and give us some case studies.  This is both crucial for Zope
>and a great benefit to you!


Yes,  I hope to have a Case study for you.  Currently I'm testing zope
"on the internet" and not just my LAN with a 
Zope host: (Thanks Scott Robertson) http://www.codeit.com 
My site for now is at  http://rocnet.codeit.com 


-bobo connor  bob@rocnet.com