On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 7:10 PM, Nancy K <nancythirt...@yahoo.com> wrote: > I want to throw out an idea that might bring in new users. The open source > android market and dependence on mobile technology are quickly increasing in > the number of users. Why not have a mobile version Open Office suite ready > for all android devices? I can't help but think of all of the PC's that are > bought with MS programs already installed - and the people that are less > technically inclined never change browsers or programs - especially if it > will cost money to upgrade. If a device is produced with OpenOffice already > in place, especially if it is optimized for mobile users - I think that would > certainly introduce this software to a growing audience. > > I am trying to think of ways that Open Office could be more mobile, and so > far: > 1. Voice to text could be utilized > 2. Cloud storage for easier access between devices including mobile to PC > 3. Slick interface that is easy to read, not a tiny version of the desktop > format - but designed specifically for mobile usability > > I started researching what android office suites are being used and came > across a 2013 article by PC Magazine > http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2419589,00.asp > The 5 best android office suites they mention do not look that great - except > maybe polaris office (the first example on their slide show: > http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l=311949&a=311948&po=1,00.asp ) > > I also came across AlwaysOnPC that does use OpenOffice > http://www.alwaysonpc.com/aboutOpenOffice.php > > The more I research, I see that all of the above are in place, just not all > of them easily found without research and many in more than one 3rd party > product not tied together - which most people will not do unless they are > looking for a specific answer to a problem. Does this seem like a productive > direction? I am still thinking about ways to help Open Office grow, and this > was my first thought. >
The trend certainly has been PC sales declining and tablets increasing. If you look at what is out there now, you'll see some bundling already. For example, even though Android is open source, Google's influence is very strong. They acquired a company called QuickOffice a couple of years ago, and they have an Android office suite. It comes pre-installed on some devices, like the Nexus 7. Apple has their iWork apps. Microsoft has their Office 365. What isn't clear is whether QuickOffice ends up on all "Google Experience" Android devices, or only some of them. There may be opportunity for other device manufacturers, like Sony, HTC, Samsung, etc. to use OpenOffice, if they want to differentiate their products beyond Google's design. Now, with bundling on PCs and laptops, this does happen. We get requests from some smaller hardware vendors asking for permission to bundle Apache OpenOffice with their machines. (We're open source, so they don't really need explicit permission from us, of course, but it is their standard procedure to request permission). But the tend to be smaller, independent hardware vendors. There is also the murky hidden world of payments that large OEM vendors receive from software vendors to distribute their software, even trial editions. So in many cases the hardware vendor would lose money if they bundled a fully-featured free office suite! Now another avenue worth thinking about: brick and mortar stores. A CD of OpenOffice, placed on an endcap in a department store or grocery store would cost next to nothing, could be sold for an extremely low price, say $5.00, and be almost pure profit for the store. Another interesting idea would be companies like Redbox that have movie rental kiosks in the US. They could distribute software CD's as well. Regards, -Rob > > Nancy > > > > > Nancy Web Design > Free 24 hour pass to lynda.com. > Video courses on SEO, CMS, > Design and Software Courses > > > > > ________________________________ > From: Rob Weir <robw...@apache.org> > To: "dev@openoffice.apache.org" <dev@openoffice.apache.org> > Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2014 11:33 AM > Subject: Re: Looking forward to 250 million users > > > On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 11:48 AM, Hagar Delest <hagar.del...@laposte.net> > wrote: >> Le 11/01/2014 15:37, Guy Waterval a écrit : >> >>> The downloads do not necessarily correspond to real users, as you said >>> before if I good remember, but it's a good indicator. >>> We should penetrate deeper into the Windows world, I have always the >>> impression that we are too much in the pool of former users of >>> OpenOffice.org. >> >> +1. >> Each time we upgrade, it's a new download but it doesn’t mean that there is >> a new user. >> Same when I upgrade my xubuntu distro: sometimes I don't download AOO again >> and sometime I download again the debs. >> > > I wouldn't focus too much on the counting methodology, which is > imperfect. Think of the question as: How do we triple the number of > users of AOO? > > On my blog last year [1] I discussed a model of market share based on > three factors: > > 1) Customer awareness == what % of the target market knows about your product > > 2) Customer motivation == what % of people who have hard of your > product have tried it > > 3) Customer satisfaction == what % of users who tried your product > continue to use it. > > Market share is the product of these three factors. Some needs to > hear of OpenOffice, try OpenOffice and continue using OpenOffice > before they are really a "user". > > In the blog post I discussed one approach to estimating these factors > and came up with the following for OpenOffice: > > Awareness = 30.7% > > Motivation = 67.4% > > Satisfaction = 77.8% > > Given those figures I'd expect the greatest growth would come from > increasing awareness. If fully 70% of internet users have not even > heard of OpenOffice, then that is our biggest opportunity for growth. > We could triple the number of users, if we tripled the number of users > who are aware of it. > > Note: I bet the most savvy computer users are already aware of > OpenOffice. We need to reach out to the masses who know very little > about open source, people very unlike ourselves. That's what makes > this challenging: marketing to people not like us., supporting them, > writing documentation for them, and ultimately designing software for > them. > > Regards, > > -Rob > > > [1] > http://www.robweir.com/blog/2013/10/the-power-of-brand-and-the-power-of-product-part-3.html > >> >> >>> I think a solution would be to push the portable version, but >>> preconfigured >>> with templates and cliparts and some extensions preinstalled to avoid that >>> the user is confronted too fast with configurations issues. >>> Why not a portable version by language entirely preconfigured with >>> templates and cliparts that could be distributed on customized USB keys by >>> companies to their clients ? Everybody could have an office suite ready >>> to >>> use on his/her USB key, lipstick tube, pocket knife, etc. People could >>> use >>> their own free office suite on almost any computer they encounter, without >>> the need to have their own laptop. Perhaps a good challenge for each >>> community to provide such a product specially adapted to what is really >>> needed in their own country. >> >> +1. >> Making the portable version a part of the whole project would be indeed a >> good idea, easing the promotion of AOO. >> >> Hagar >> >> >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org >> For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@openoffice.apache.org >> > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@openoffice.apache.org --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@openoffice.apache.org
