Lars, I think you are right that this is an important issue. On the other hand, it is such a huge battle and really makes us fight against the current. Using mental judo, perhaps we have another alternative:
A brand name that is used too generically by too many people risks losing its legal trademark status. (Xerox, Kleenex and Band-Aid have fought hard against this.) "Powerpoint" must be close to this danger. What if we start deliberately mis-using Microsoft's trademark and push hard to make powerpoint become a truly generic term? What if we say that Impress is a "powerpoint program." We're just talking the way that millions of people already do, but with a slightly more subversive intent... What might the result be? Break their hold on the trademark (cost them a lot of money trying to defend it) and also communicate in a way that people will understand more easily. I think this path holds promise. Thanks, Ben On Friday, March 10, 2006, at 10:30AM, Lars D. Noodén <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Many people confuse the general category "presentation graphics" with a >specific brand and product line of software. > >It is a problem for us that too many people use one particular brand name >instead of the general term "presentation graphics". For many of these >people, the brand name *is* presentation graphics and for them there is >only one. Others know better, but contribute to the problem by not using >the correct term. > >Newpapers make that mistake and I see even major magazines like Time and >Newsweek make that mistake. > >It's a matter of marketing. If we can start insisting on editors saying >"presentation graphics" when they mean presentation graphics, and not say >"MS PowerPoint (r)" when they mean "presentation graphics", we open the >opportunity to bring in OOo and Impress. If we leave it be, we leave the >market with one single product whether we want to or not. > >Mindshare is important > >Comments, thoughts, suggestions? > >-Lars >Lars Nooden ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > Keep the market open by keeping software patents out: > > http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/indprop/patent/consultation_en.htm > >--------------------------------------------------------------------- >To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
