<p>This thesis will look into what kind of solutions a company or a private person can use if they want to create a dynamic website using only free software. To do this we divided our work in two parts. In the first part, we developed a dynamic website for a Swedish company. On the server side we used exclusively free software with open source code. There are different meanings in how the term “free” should be used when referring to software, which we will explain in the thesis. We have also chosen to work with the XMLtechnology to see if it lives up to its expectations and to see if we could benefit from the technology. Alongside with the development of our site, another company developed a site for the same company as us, by using non-free software. We have described both implementations and compared them to see if it is possible to do the same thing with both free and non-free software. </p><p>The investigating part of our work consisted of getting information about what other people think about the free software phenomenon. To do so we created an online questionnaire where we randomly picked 100 Swedish web agencies and asked them to answer 8 questions about what kind of software they used in their company, and what they thought about free software. To get some more opinions we also interviewed two persons involved in these kinds of topics. Jan Sandred, who is a well known expert advisor in topics concerning the Information Technology area and Richard Stallman, the founder of GNU and the Free Software Movement. </p><p>The reason for dividing the thesis in two parts was to get an overall picture on the subject. We did not only want to base our results on other people’s thoughts. We wanted to make our own conclusions based on the implementation we did. This approach showed out to be very good. We got to try working with free software ourselves to see its pros and cons and build our own opinions about it. We could then proceed to compare our impressions to other people’s impressions about free software.</p>

This thesis will look into what kind of solutions a company or a private person can use if they want to create a dynamic website using only free software. To do this we divided our work in two parts. In the first part, we developed a dynamic website for a Swedish company. On the server side we used exclusively free software with open source code. There are different meanings in how the term “free” should be used when referring to software, which we will explain in the thesis. We have also chosen to work with the XMLtechnology to see if it lives up to its expectations and to see if we could benefit from the technology. Alongside with the development of our site, another company developed a site for the same company as us, by using non-free software. We have described both implementations and compared them to see if it is possible to do the same thing with both free and non-free software. The investigating part of our work consisted of getting information about what other people think about the free software phenomenon. To do so we created an online questionnaire where we randomly picked 100 Swedish web agencies and asked them to answer 8 questions about what kind of software they used in their company, and what they thought about free software. To get some more opinions we also interviewed two persons involved in these kinds of topics. Jan Sandred, who is a well known expert advisor in topics concerning the Information Technology area and Richard Stallman, the founder of GNU and the Free Software Movement. The reason for dividing the thesis in two parts was to get an overall picture on the subject. We did not only want to base our results on other people’s thoughts. We wanted to make our own conclusions based on the implementation we did. This approach showed out to be very good. We got to try working with free software ourselves to see its pros and cons and build our own opinions about it. We could then proceed to compare our impressions to other people’s impressions about free software.

Syftet med denna slutreflektion är att visa problemen men även möjligheterna i marknadsföringen av spelet Forced2Fight av det lilla teamet i Kick the Owl Productions. Begränsad budget, osäker framtid för både team och spel är något som måste övervinnas. För att kunna angripa dessa problem har jag studerat en rad olika tillvägagångssätt och kommit fram till ett lämpligt tillvägagångssätt riktat åt gräsrötterna för att bygga upp varumärket. Den effektivaste strategin bör i min mening vara att marknadsföra gruppen via traditionella medier och förankra spelet i den relevanta målgruppen direkt via fora och andra sociala medier. Kontakta både framträdande medlemmar i sociala grupper samt expertgrupper bestående av kunniga spelentuseaster. De olika grupperna kompletterar varandra och kan förmedla en helhetsbild av spelet som kan gynna Kick the Owl Studios. Slutligen bör man fördela informationsflödet så att de presumtiva kunderna får kontinuerliga uppdateringar fram till och efter lansering med möjlighet till feedback och nära band till utvalda delar av teamet. Detta görs med fördel genom en dynamisk hemsida med bloggfunktion samt ett egenkontrollerat forum. Detta kan även med framgång utnyttjas för kvalitetssäkring av spelet. I det fallet att teamet kan förutspå en splittring bör fokus ges åt individerna och deras talanger samt produkten i sig. På så sätt kan man maximera den positiva renommé spelproduktionen kan ge. Nyckelord: marknadsföring, sociala medier, kvalitetssäkring, dynamisk hemsida The purpose of this paper is to highlight the problems and possibilities in marketing the game Forced2Fight, by the small team of Kick the Owl Productions. A limited budget, uncertain future for both team and game is something that has to be overcome. In order to tackle these problems, I have studied a number of different approaches and have come to a suitable approach targeted at the grass roots to build the brand. The most effective strategy should in my view be to build the team through traditional media and the anchor product in the relevant target audience directly via a forum and other social networks. Contact both prominent members of social groups and expert groups consisting of knowledgeable gaming enthusiasts. They complement each other and provide a comprehensive view of the game that can benefit the Kick the Owl Studios. Finally, one should distribute the flow of information so that potential clients receive continuous updates before and after the launch, with the possibility of feedback and close ties to selected parts of the team. This can be done effectively with a dynamic website with a blog feature and a self-controlled forum. This can also be successfully used for quality assurance of the game. In the case the team can predict a split the focus should shift to the individuals and their talents and the product itself. This will maximize the positive reputation which the production of the game can provide. Keywords: marketing, social media, quality assurance, dynamic homepage