Boycott the Pure Sensia digital radio

It runs Linux as its OS. But …

The management of the company that makes it can’t say the “L-word” out loud for some reason. Which makes them either Microsoft Lackeys or Morons. Either way, would you buy a radio from them?

It might be used to run everything from PCs to power stations, but it seems some people are still a wee bit shy about using the (cough) L word.

Speaking at the launch of the touchscreen Pure Sensia digital radio, director of marketing Colin Crawford was pressed for specifics of the new device’s software. But after his CEO reminded him that the new radio was based on a Linux OS, Crawford remarked: “I don’t like the using the word ‘Linux’ on a radio.”

Details

Comments

#1 Noadi
September 29, 2009

I’m sitting here on my laptop running Ubuntu Linux fuming a bit (it gives me far fewer headaches than my Vista running desktop). Linux is absolutely wonderful and it’s really a slap in the face of Linux developers that they use the OS and won’t acknowledge it. Morons.
#2 lylebot
September 29, 2009

Sounds to me like the CEO wanted to play up the Linux angle, but the marketing guy wanted to cover it up. I can kind of see where marketing guy is coming from, though I think he’s wrong. But is it fair to tar the entire company management because of the marketing guy?
#3 Greg Laden
September 29, 2009

Lylebod: Yes, until he is publicly tarred and feathered!!!
#4 Funkopolis
September 29, 2009

You have to avoid nerdy connotations in things as cool as radio. Actually drawing attention to an underlying technology as if it were a feature is sad geeky to the extreme, and nobody hip enough to be associated with broadcasting would EVER do anything that lame.

Oh yeah, and this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_radio
#5 Alcari
September 29, 2009

But… if it’s both “digital” and “linux” it must be really complicated!
#6 mewol
September 29, 2009

Clearly, his objection was that there’s no such thing as a “Linux OS” and he felt it should be called “GNU/Linux” instead.

Clearly.
#7 csrster
September 30, 2009

If it had been running Windows I bet he would have been equally keen to avoid using that word. Pure’s market is obviously people who want a nice internet radio. Anything that makes them think of their radio as a stripped-down PC is likely to put off people who really don’t want another computer in their house.

(For the record, I own a Revo Pico Radiostation, and I have no idea what OS it uses.)
#8 Bob
September 30, 2009

Greg, shouldn’t the marketing head be tarred and gzipped instead?…