Generating a PR buzz for 2.2.0

[Nathan Buchanan]

Hello All!

With the 2.2.0 release coming up I have started thinking about how we will
promote it. As I understand it, we currently post notices on our website,
the lists, and they occasionally get picked up by other tech news websites
from there (correct me if I'm wrong). When 2.2.0 is released it will be a
big deal. With this release we break into the mass market (eg - Windows).
There are big benefits (as I'm sure you already know): more potential
developers, larger user base, etc, but that's not the point. The point is,
that this is "big news" and we need a PR strategy.

What ideas do we have to help create a buzz? I've got a couple (below), but
we need more ideas - please pipe in if you have one. We can then decide
which ones are worth doing.

1. create a list of news sites to submit a story to. If they choose to
publish it great, if not, we haven't lost anything. We should consider news
sites in the following categories:
-tech/IT sites (to raise visibility among IT professionals)
-accounting/financial sites (to raise visibility among then financial
industry - we do create financial software!)
-general interest news sites/ public broadcasters (many have a tech and
financial sections where an article may fit in.)

We would need to draft up some special announcement beforehand.

2. Advertise online (wait, before you say "we don't have the money" check
this out):
http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2007/04/google-grants-free-advertising-for-open.htmlI
ran across this today and think we should give it a try. Besides,
$10,000
in free advertising isn't bad!

Anywhere else we can get advertising?

Scheduling: We need to have all the packages released at the same time (or
at least hold the announcements until all the packages are up and we are
happy with them). We don't want to get caught unprepared. (yes, I am
speaking as the person that is building the last package ;) )

Thoughts? Arguments? Could we get agreement on this, and possibly volunteers
to put it into action?

Thanks,
Nathan

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