Hi everyone,
Thanks to all who responded to the thread I started only to signal a
place where the .org was missing. Hopefully, with Zaheda's help that
will be corrected.
===================
First of all I would like to ask you again to read the
[email protected] mailing list description prior to
responding to emails. There might be cases where someone's words seem
tough but in fact it might be only the language differences to blame.
Also, I ask you all: please discourage the personal attacks on this
list. We are a working list aimed at finding solutions and promoting OOo
and we should provide a nice atmosphere to make newcomers feel welcomed
and encouraged to participate... and not make them unsubscribe.
http://www.openoffice.org/ml_guidelines.html
Thank you so much for understanding and for helping out.
===================
Regarding the ".org" in OpenOffice.org name:
We are for some time now (5 years ?) using this name. At such a long
time it might not really matter how the name was chosen. What is
important at the moment is that we have been using this name for so
long, it is in a lot of people's minds and that we also have a
registered trademark for this name recently.
Depending on the environment where this name is mentioned, the ".org"
part might be highly useful or just useful. It depends on us if it is
made un-useful. ;-)
If I am allowed a personal opinion:
"As long as we are still striving to get the product on every computer
and the community well-known, the .org is nothing but useful:
- it immediately tells those who hear the name for the first time where
they can find us;
- it is easy to remember later from both name and location perspective;
- it is striking enough to make them wonder What is that ...since they
discover a product with a website name."
One of the rules of branding is that the name helps remembering the
product. What really matters under the circumstances is that we keep
promoting the product and make use of the ".org" in our advantage.
One little example:
Take for instance the "GetLegal - Get OpenOffice.org" campaign.. the tag
says it all, even if you see it on a non-clickable banner on the street.
No need for the viewer to ask: "From where can I get it ?" ..and no need
to add an address under the tag. ;-)
If you happen to see articles where .org is not mentioned, it is because
we still need to work on that. It is this project's mission to get the
name into people's minds and make it stay there. Actions like GetLegal
are meant to do that.
Marketing is by all means a details oriented job. An activity meant to
take advantage of all the aspects of a product, organization,
environment, market etc. And for this, the current name has many merits
as we are still harder to find in supermarkets rather than on the Internet.
Re-branding at this stage of spread and recognition can be harmful and
it certainly slows down the process. At some point in the future, it
might be needed, who knows ? But a decision to do that (at our size and
spread) should be only taken based on professional and extensive market
research and not by the cases we deal from time to time in our daily
work. For these cases a simple pre-formatted email will be enough.
Let's find new and interesting ways of taking advantage of the name and
promote the product and community better.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Cristian
Florian Effenberger wrote:
Hi Daniel,
AFAIR "OpenOffice" is a trademark in Switzerland.
Florian
--
Cristian DRIGA
==
OpenOffice.org Marketing Project Co-Lead
OpenOffice.org Romanian Native Language Project Lead
[EMAIL PROTECTED] | ro.openoffice.org | www.openoffice.org
-------------------------------
Attorney at Law - Iasi, Romania
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Phone: +40.78.87.000.60;
http://driga.kfacts.com/attorney/
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