Why open source projects are not publicised

Just the fact that news outlets are starting to run stories on a lack of publicity seems to be a good sign. It seems to me that there are many more people still writing articles on the predominant platform rather than the new upstarts. As Linux/Unix/BSD gain back some market share, the publicity will start to mount.

The existence of more high quality news outlets (such as LXer!) should aid in a higher profile for individual softwares.

Some companies deploy libre software without much fanfare due to the fact that they don't consider their use of it newsworthy. For instance, I know a company that only deploys GNU/Linux and MySQL for a specific application/service. I'm sure they didn't think to call up Linux World to tell them about it. Also, they'll be testing some libre software now, although the higher-ups don't know that yet. ;-)

I am making it a habit to talk to every business I visit and inquire with a low key about their software if I can work it into the conversation. When I have a certain number (read: a whole bunch) I will recontact the businesses using libre and ask if I can mention them in an upcoming article. I would guess if we all just kept a few notes of those we run into, we could compile an impressive list. It would be one of those cumulative things...no immediate return, but good for down the road.