Linux: So Unsexy

The unsexy Linux mascot, Tux

Let's face it: Linux is not sexy. It's nerdy. Linux is almost synonymous with "nerd in the basement." To many people, the Linux operating system is the command line and all the "wget"s and "sudo fdisk -l"s. (I know what you're thinking, and if you've never looked at a Linux command line, those commands don't mean a thing.)

I've always been a fan of the Ubuntu "flavor" of Linux. There are several Linux operating systems, from OpenSUSE to Fedora, from Debian to Ubuntu. To me, however, Ubuntu has always been in the forefront of those, mainly due to the original tagline of the OS: "Linux for human beings." It was easy to get into, easy to install and the original desktop interface (which has since changed to the mobile-esque Unity interface) was pretty analogous to what I was used to with Windows XP.

I was looking at the Ubuntu website this last weekend and I noticed something:

There was no mention of Linux. Anywhere.

The world's leading Linux operating system does not (any longer) market itself as a Linux operating system. (New tagline: "The world's most popular free OS")

And it was then that I thought...Linux isn't sexy. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, knows this. To catapult Ubuntu's popularity out of the Linux nerd-dom and into popular culture, it has shed the Linuxness to appeal to the masses, to the end-user.

As more and more people become disenchanted with Microsoft and the direction they've gone with Windows 8, the more Ubuntu hopes to draw those people in.  It has to be said; Ubuntu is much more user-friendly than Windows 8 -- but that's another discussion altogether.

Ubuntu One advertisement

See that image to the right? It's a banner ad from Ubuntu's website, advertising their Ubuntu One service. It's Ubuntu's version of iCloud. That image conveys a hipness, that Ubuntu is used by cool people. It doesn't scream "nerdy Linux." It calmly suggest "this isn't Linux. This is Ubuntu. And Ubuntu is cool."

Linux isn't sexy. Canonical knows Linux isn't sexy, so they are distancing their product, Ubuntu, from those un-sexy origins and marketing it as fun, hip and cool. (and did we mention free?)

As Don Draper would say:

"If you don't like what people are saying...change the conversation."