How are we compelling?
Hi everyone! I hate to interrupt all this awesome w.g.o work, but here's a topic I've thought about for a long time, and still haven't figured out. And I think it's important that we have great answers for it. How are we compelling to regular people? Every time a technical friend asks me to explain to them why they should use Linux/FOSS/Gnome, etc., I think I can answer fairly well. We're working together to create awesome software that lets us get the most out of our computers, without arbitrary restrictions, like DRM. We want open formats, so our data won't disappear when our software providers do. We want to advance Free Culture in general, where sharing and community are central. The most fundamental advantages we have over closed software, I think, are our community and our powerful demands for openness. Our community tends to create solutions to our most pressing issues (without compromising our freedoms) and with much greater efficiency than closed source development allows. If we're going to become successful, we need to emphasize our strengths that closed software can _never_ achieve by its nature. We can point potential users to things like Gaim's multi-protocol support, but if all of someone's friends are on Yahoo and MSN, and the official apps can now communicate with each other, the user might not care that Gaim is open source. They just found a solution, and they didn't have to pay for it. Talking to a friend at a sizable, very propriety company, his critique of FOSS is that it just breeds users who want free hand-outs. He didn't think our users care or would care about anything but that. How do we counter this point? How do we get people to value our fundamental strengths, and not superficial advantages, like a powerful feature that may show up in the next version of Windows or OS X (or some app)? If our users value what we truly value, then they won't disappear when someone provides them a shinier version of feature X. Perhaps more importantly, if we can get users of closed systems to value freedom, they'll overlook our (temporary) superficial inadequacies, we'll gain clout, developers, and funding exponentially (or, at least, even more rapidly than we are now) in a positive feedback loop. And within a few years, we'll be caught up on most of the features that matter (and pave the way with a whole lot of features that closed systems don't provide). By the point you may realize I'm just talking out loud - but I'm really fishing for answers. How are we (or can we be) more compelling to average users than Windows and OS X? (Ignoring that Gnome does not provide the low-level OS - I'm talking about our larger goals). Do we market ourselves as producing security patches much more rapidly than our competitors? As connecting people better than they can in other systems (is this even true right now)? As treating them with respect in an otherwise DRM and copy-protection-infested environment? As being advertisement free (not forcing negative features on them). Giving them what they actually want, in a presentable format? Not leaving them behind (i18n, a11y) just because they aren't cost-effective? (By the way - do we need to avoid going negative? How could/should we bring up the majority of these last points without making implications about our competitors?) How are we really compelling to our target audience - everyday people? -Travis -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: Looking GNOME brochures
Gezim, At best, a native English speaker might replace gay - happy but would never go the other direction. I don't think this is anything to worry about. -Travis On Thu, 2005-11-10 at 19:04 -0700, Gezim Hoxha wrote: On Thu, 2005-11-10 at 12:35 +0100, Andre Klapper wrote: hi behdad, not a brochure, but there's some stuff available at http://live.gnome.org/MarketingTeam_2fMarketingMaterial or directly at http://www.viralata.net/gnome/promotion/ . OK. Andreas Nilsson wasn't thinking when he made the poster Official Desktop of Happy people, because happy and gay are interchangeable words (even though gay is not too commonly used for happy)-- http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=happy . Please take this poster down before someone picks it up. -Gezim -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: TUX Magazine Reader's Choice Awards [Was: Some criticisms of GNOME]
Thanks Travis, I was on vacation last week and missed this, I am now getting a 403 on the above link. Is the contest closed? It seems to have beeen relocated here: http://www.tuxmagazine.com/node/107 (Right now, we're at 27% vs. 54% for KDE) -Travis -- marketing-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: TUX Magazine Reader's Choice Awards [Was: Some criticisms of GNOME]
On Tue, 2005-08-16 at 16:55 +1000, Jeff Waugh wrote: quote who=David Neary Here's an e-mail I got from the editor of tuxmag, which details some criticisms of the desktop. It raises some points that are interesting, and to which we should probably have an answer. Meanwhile, vote in the TUX Magazine Reader's Choice Awards, here: http://www.tuxmagazine.com/TUX_Readers_Choice Speaking of user polls, should we have someone keep a look out for these sort of polls and make sure our more-than-casual users see them? -Travis -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: upcoming tuxmag article
On Mon, 2005-08-15 at 16:43 -0400, Luis Villa wrote: On 8/15/05, David Neary [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have gotten some notice that the next issue of tuxmag will contain a negative article on GNOME - it's likely to get some slashdot-type attention, so it might be an idea to be somewhat prepared. I got the impression it's the usual GNOME is ugly, file chooser sucks, spatial sucks, where are all the preferences gone? type article. Gah. No other details? That said, sounds like a perfect opportunity to figure out what we really want out of an organized 'fudsquad', and put it into action. Luis Do we need a standard FUD response (like a standard FAQ)? -Travis -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Pronouncing GNOME
This may rile a few people - feel free to flame me if this sounds stupid. :) I've noticed that the vast majority of new users tend to pronounce GNOME as gnome (rather than GUH-nome) - this was reiterated as I helped out at the booth at LWE this week. Would it make sense to change the official pronunciation of GNOME to gnome to smooth out this blip? Or does this unnecessarily disassociate it from GNU, etc.? This may seem like a tiny detail, but I imagine a few non-hacker types chuckle a little when they hear someone talk to them about how cool this whole GUH-nome thing is, and I'd think it'd be easier for someone to put together the sound gnome and the text GNOME in their in their mind, etc. (though this may be less true for non/non-native English speakers). -Travis -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: Is this really the extent of our booth?
Tim should have a few more pictures, but it was basically that poster, the two HP Gnome collage picture boards, some nice little brochures, and the two computer setups we had. If we could round up that Booth in a Box that a few people discussed a while back, it would certainly help. Though we may need some financial backing to afford shipping it around. Even as it was, we had a lot of interest when I was there yesterday. -Travis On Thu, 2005-08-11 at 12:10 +1200, Glynn Foster wrote: Hey, http://www.linuxgreenhouse.org/blog/tim/midcom-admin/ais/midcom-serveattachment-34474/e_moglen_lwe.jpg Pictures speak a thousand words - I'm hoping the other section of it is a little more fancy. Glynn -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: In need for some text for a poster
I thought I'd give the text one more native speaker parse, to make sure it sounds natural to a native English speaker: == Do you, like many others, fight an endless battle against spyware, worms and viruses? Are you worried about whether your budget can stand the cost of the next software upgrade? Do you have the feeling that your software vendor doesn't care about you? You know, things like that don't make your everyday life better. With the GNOME Desktop, your troubles are over. It's secure, more virus-resistant, and its developers aren't trying to lock you into their product. You can choose from a wide variety of GNOME software vendors to get the support and features that suit your needs. Welcome to GNOME -- the Official Desktop of Happy People! == I also suggest we make all occurences of GNOME and Desktop in the paragraph bold, as well as www.gnome.org at the bottom of the poster. Overall, I really like it! :) -Travis -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: Fwd: GNOME at LinuxWorld, 9-11 August: Call for volunteers
I noticed, while trying to register for an Expositioner's badge for LinuxWorld, they want a password to prove I'm with the organization. Could someone send that to me? Thanks, -Travis On Thu, 2005-07-21 at 23:26 -0700, Travis Reitter wrote: As I wrote a week or so, I plan on helping out hte first day of the expo. Unlike last time, though, I know that day will be Tuesday :) Has anyone else confirmed that they'd like to help out? And how does the first person on Tuesday set up? -Travis -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
Re: Fwd: GNOME at LinuxWorld, 9-11 August: Call for volunteers
As I wrote a week or so, I plan on helping out hte first day of the expo. Unlike last time, though, I know that day will be Tuesday :) Has anyone else confirmed that they'd like to help out? And how does the first person on Tuesday set up? -Travis On Thu, 2005-07-21 at 22:30 -0700, Sri Ramkrishna wrote: I concur. I've had a lot of fun talking with people on the floor. Especially when you can impress them and they want to get a live cd and check things out. sri On Fri, 2005-07-15 at 12:03 -0400, Luis Villa wrote: Probably appropriate for here as well. Working the show floor can be a lot of fun for someone who is outgoing and interested in promoting the work we do- I strongly encourage doing it if you're in that neck of the woods. Luis (who wishes he could fly out for it) -- marketing-list mailing list marketing-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
