Graham Lauder a écrit :
On Monday 04 Oct 2010 10:11:48 Wolfgang Bornath wrote:
2010/10/3 Graham Lauder<[email protected]>:
That is your opinion, and of course unprovable.
Same as yours.
You write a lot about how the naming and the colors ate away market
shares. I never ever heard any Ubuntu user (nor even fan boys at
events) talking about names or colors when describing the benefits of
their distribution. Oh, and BTW: Ubuntu changed colors because a lot
of Ubuntu users did not like the colors - how could they have been
attracted by colors they don't like and want to be changed?
What Ubuntu did very well and what made their success is based on 3
parts (and I do not mean lots of money to win tenders in the business
world):
1. Give the users the illusion that it is their distribution and that
it is what they are doing, not some company far away. With all
appearances, all speeches and all publications Shuttleworth gave out
one message: Ubuntu is you, you are Ubuntu. That was the top reason he
succeeded to build a critical mass of organised users who became the
most valued asset - a cost free PR system.
Indeed, but it was a holistic approach, nothing in isolation, everything
worked together
There was a lot of money invested in that promotion. Money talks.
2. Ubuntu lets people download ISOs just as all the others. But it
also sends you CDs for free - I tried that once and 10 CDs were
delivered to my door within 3 days. For new users this is far more
attractive than any downloadable - what's it called, ISO?.
Indeed, That was a stroke of genius, not so keen on doing that now but as you
say, it grabbed new user base. OpenSUSE do this now, I had 200 DVDs sitting
on my doorstep 5 days after ordering for Sofware Freedom day
That was a major factor. They were the first distro to do that, having
the $ to do it.
3. PR, PR, PR, PR and then again PR. The media, print and web were
flooded with PRs from Canonical, from local user organisations, etc.
Ubuntu succeeded to have their name hammered into the attention of
website and magazine readers, even non-IT media. Once started this is
a runner.
Oh yeah agreed
Again, $ didn't hurt.
Another factor was focusing on excellent documentation. (They paid for
much of this, as well.) Particularly on their CD, for the installation
process. At the time, starting Linux on much hardware was problematic,
despite the fact that the Linux kernel accepted many options to overcome
these difficulties.
Extensive documentation on the Ubuntu CD permitted me to correct some
booting configuration problems on my Mandriva system. (My system
booted, but some things didn't work.)
I stayed with Mandriva because of better package selection, including
urpmi and the mcc.
None of this is related to the colour or names.
the same success, not one user less if they had never thought of those
names.
On this I would disagree. Colour is incredibly powerful, emotion is
incredibly powerful, style is incredibly powerful.
Yes yes. Ugly drab brown is particularly attractive.
Don't forget, the CDs were mailed out for free, to anyone asking for
them, without questions. (Just an email adresse.)
None of the above would have worked without visual appeal and emotional
connection. Ask any PR professional.
Emotional connexion, makes sense. Helped by extensive advertising and
promotion.
The OpenSUSE dvds are a perfect example. The packaging up to 11.2 was
designed by the community, Green and Grey looked very professional and well
packaged. I did three events at the last years Software Freedom day and gave
away about 30 of the hundred I had. I decided to make a play for LCA and got
a box I think of 11.2 a sleeve with a picture of a grey CD on it and ended
with a wjhole lot left over.
Then Novell farmed out the production of the promo DVDs to a company called
OpenSLX and they repackaged them, funky graphics aimed at a young market
bright colours and no grey. There were a lot of unhappy people on the lists.
Railing at this stupid colourful nonsense.
The difference was at SFD this year I ran out of DVDs, all that I had I gave
away. Packaging, colours, funky graphics it works, but not in isolation it
has to be part of a whole package.
Having distributed the DVDs, it could be considered a success from a
marketing point of view.
However the important is attracting users who will actually use the
distribution, continue to use it, and hopefully contribute to ensure its
success.
This requires a lot more than gloss.
And I suspect that the first batch could well have had more success in
these terms than the second, in targeting those more likely to contribute.
(Kids like fancy looking DVDs - they make great frisbees.)
The content of the DVD is critical, in other words the packages included
and their ease of use and relevance.
Not that appearance is unimportant - just in my mind it is a much less
important factor.
Cheers
GL
- André (andre999)
