Info needed for online research project

Hi Balu!


* Balu V <agent.logicgmail.com> [070627
15:47]:

> I'm a student of Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology, under their
> distance learning program. As part of my studies, I've
been given an
> assignment to do an online research about the
organization structure of a
> business/organization to identify its functional areas
and to find out about
> the information systems used to support the functional
areas.
> 
> As an open source person myself, I've chosen the Debian
Project as my
> organization. Most of the info I need are on the Debian
website, however,
> I'd need the business processes used in 2 functional
areas (publicity and
> custom distribution) and the information systems in use
to support the
> process. All information given will be duly
acknowledged in my assignment.
> I'd request you to furnish me the required information
to help me complete
> my assignment for my studies.

Many thanks for choosing our project as the organization for
your
studies.  I'm sorry, that it took so long for me to answer
your mail --
I was quite busy during the last weeks due to personal
issues.  Well...
actually I'm still busy, so this mail is more or less to let
you know,
that your mail arrived and has not been forgoten.

Regarding the functional areas you mentioned, I recommend to
contact
Andreas Tille <tilledebian.org> for questions regarding
custom debian
distributions.

As already mentioned, I'm quite busy but willing to help you
regarding
"publicity" -- perhaps it would be better, if you
tell me what you would
like to know exactly?  Publicity is a wide field, and by
asking him some
more specific questions, you save me some work and will get
your answers
sooner 


Yours sincerely,
  Alexander Schmehl,
  Debian Developer and Spokesperson

On Sunday 15 July 2007 18.08:01 Balu V wrote:

> But its not a problem though! I would still like to
know more about
> Debian, because after graduation, I want to work mainly
in the open
> source industry.

Reading your questions below, it seems to me that you do not
yet know what 
Free Software / Open Source is about.  Answering your
specific questions:

> About publicity, I'm curious as to how you guys let 
> people know that so and so Debian products are
available,

Debian has a mailing list (debian-announce) that is
ultimately the official 
source where new releases of the Debian GNU/Linux system are
announced.

> and are much 
> better than corporate stuff?

Debian (the project, as organised under the vague umbrella
of SPI and lead 
by the Debian Project Leader) does not have a policy of
comparing Debian 
with other products or projects.  You will find any number
of comparisons 
(by various criteria and of wildly different quality), but
they are written 
by third parties.

> Where do you mainly get the funding from for 
> the publicity?

The Debian project gets funding mostly from donations, but
as far as I know 
no project money is being spent on publicity.  The closest
you could come 
is that some money may be spent occasionally to faciliate
setting up booths 
at exhibitions and getting people and stuff there, but
mostly exhibitions 
offer booths for free to Free Software project.  (Others may
correct me 
here, though.)

> And which media (or medium) are the main source
(internet, 
> tv etc.) of advertizing Debian products?

The Debian project does not advertise.  There is the main
website, but its 
main purpose is not advertising Debian, but offering useful
information.

> Also, I'm curious as to how open source survives even
after most of its
> products being free of cost?

This question demonstrates, to me, that you seem to not yet
understand how 
Free Software works.  I suggest that you read up about it
some more, for 
example:
 * http://www.gnu.
org/gnu/manifesto.html
 * h
ttp://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/
 * any good Book on the history of Unix
 * http://opensource.org/ (in
particular http://opensource.org/
docs/osd)
 * some of the links in this google query may be helpful:
   <http://www.google.com/search?q=why+does+opensource+wo
rk>

Debian specific:
 * http://www.debian.or
g/intro/free
 * http://www.debi
an.org/social_contract

It's very important to know that all of these links (and
this is especially 
true for the first two, although they are sometimes called
"foundataion 
documents" of the Free Software/Open Source movement)
are just opinions or 
perceptions of their authors.

But better than all reading: go to the nearest Linux /
open-source event 
taking place near you, and talk to people.

I hope this sheds some light on your questions

greetings
Adrian

-- 
Could this mail be a fake? (Answer: No! - http://fortytwo.ch/gpg/i
ntro)