[ale] AJC coverage

[Brooks Dobbs]

Date	3/22/96
Subject	AJC coverage
 From	Brooks Dobbs
To	ale ale

                      Subject:                              Time:  1:45 PM
  OFFICE MEMO         AJC coverage                          Date:  3/22/96
Okay wait a second here....

Frankly I'm, a little pissed, I would much rather defend Linux than defend
the AJC -  BUT the AJC and Bill Husted are getting an unfair rap here.

I tried to leave Steve Duchene with the impression that Bill Husted and the
AJC are not hostile to the cause but that simply the level of our reader is
not the UNIX effecianado, infact 99% of them are likely to have never even
heard of UNIX.  This is true.  I am not trying to make enemies of anyone
here and I am not trying to sound like "we know whats best for our
reader...", but we do live and die by demographics of our readership and we
do have a VERY strong handle on who they are.  And I think that it is a bit
unfair for Steve to portray Bill (or the paper) adversarialy when he has
never even read his column.   

What Bill told me was that, "whenever I use the word 'Operating System' I
have to spend the next two paragraphs explaining what one is".  Our readers
care about Win95, Mac and DOS not because Bill or the paper thinks them
superior but because thats what they use.

I could go on here but the bottom line is this:
I told Steve that I would be glad to publish the release on our on-line
service Access Atlanta and that I would try to get it into the calendars
section of the paper.  Hell, that is pretty damn good.  I made it clear that
Bill was a good guy and sympathetic.

I am sorry but Linux just is not main stream enough to warrant an full
article.  It sucks, but it is true.  

The CEO of all Cox newspapers is an extremely avid cyclist and would love to
see extensive coverage of the Tour De France in the Paper.  I know HUNDREDS
of other people who feel the same way, but the paper will not print it
because it DOES NOT HAVE MASS appeal.  Thats just the way it is folks.

Lets not get all militant for the sake of getting militant,

Brooks