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12.12.13

The Linux Foundation’s Unusual Branding Failure

Posted in GNU/Linux, Kernel, Marketing at 10:46 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Eye of Sauron

Summary: A group called the “AllSeen Alliance” is the last thing which the Linux Foundation should want to be associated with

Branding is the main expertise of the Linux Foundation’s head (Linux Foundations CEO). That’s the field he comes from (his professional biography reveals this) and this is the purpose he serves, especially by ignoring if not altogether deleting GNU's role. It is all about the “Linux” brand, trying to label everything that uses the popular kernel “Linux” but never GNU or something similarly (or even more) important. Just remember who is the guardian is the “Linux” trademark and who seized control of the domain Linux.com. That in itself is not a major issue or a big deal, but the point is, the “Linux” brand is a relatively huge success story, perhaps bigger than Apple and the “i” things (or even the “Obama” brand, which exceeded in value any single corporation in the world, as empirically measured some years back).

“Perhaps the name of this so-called alliance can still be amended.”The Linux Foundation has been very good at advancing the Linux brand, so why was it so tactless in labeling its new initiative “AllSeen”, especially amid the NSA scandals? LXer commenters have rightly pointed out that this was a mistake. We can expect what they promote to be a potential cause for issues (see [1] from October 2013), but alas, the announcement [2] received a lot of press [3-13], not just from Linux Foundation staff [14].

The name “AllSeen” is not benign; it’s similar to All-Seeing and in practice it involves sensory signals being passed over a surveillance-dominated Internet. This can be used against people (espionage), as information about ‘smart’ meters shows. Perhaps the name of this so-called alliance can still be amended. Android, by the way, is no brilliant brand either, no matter if it refers to the devices, the users, or the creator (Andy Rubin).

Branding matters. The Linux Foundation can still dodge the “AllSeen” nonsense before it’s truly irreversible due to brand recognition. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

  1. Russia: Hidden chips ‘launch spam attacks from irons’
  2. Open Source Tears Down Walled Gardens to Connect Internet of Everything
  3. Linux starts foundation for ‘talking’ home appliances
  4. Tech Titans Form Alliance for Internet of Things
  5. Qualcomm Leads Linux-Backed Internet of Everything Consortium
  6. Linux Foundation Aims to Secure Internet of Things
  7. AllSeen Alliance to Standardize Internet of Things
  8. The Linux Foundation Rallies Tech Heavyweights Behind “Internet of Everything”
  9. Linux Foundation forms AllSeen Alliance to advance the Internet of Everything

    The Linux Foundation, together with industry heavyweights, has announced the formation of the AllSeen Alliance.

  10. Linux Foundation Builds Internet of Things Effort
  11. Open source IoT alliance taps Qualcomm AllJoyn

    The Linux Foundation announced an “AllSeen Alliance” for the Internet of Things built upon Qualcomm’s open source “AllJoyn” IoT interoperability framework.

  12. AllSeen Alliance adopts open-source framework for the Internet of Things
  13. Linux Foundation, Panasonic, Qualcomm Form AllSeen Alliance

    open source project, which was originally developed by and is contributed to the Alliance by Qualcomm.
    The Linux Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux and collaborative development, announced the formation of the AllSeen Alliance, a consortium dedicated to advancing adoption and innovation in the “Internet of Everything” in homes and industry.

  14. The Launch of AllSeen Alliance (and the Next Generation of Open Collaboration)
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