( I also reply to freedesktop) 2006/10/19, Quim Gil <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Can we borrow the "Just Works! (tm)" slogan? >
Actually I don't think that such slogans are a good idea. I think Windows, Mac, Intel and AOL already go that line that THEY enable the user to do cool things. I really think that we rather should communicate other values, that might not be as "sexy", but maybe in the future. I would rather like to communicate: * GNOME is free software: "Free your Desktop" (I love to see this slogan to be a shared slogan of KDE, GNOME and others like: * "Free you desktop with GNOME" or * "Free your desktop with KDE" I think this is the most important one. It is not distinguishing GNOME from other desktops, but I really would not worry too much about the others. I think the simplicity GNOME has is more implict in relation to other desktops and does not matter much. You can not compete with Apple on the "it just works" metapher, because we really do not have the money, and on the other hand if we ask the question of freedom no proprietary desktop will ever be able to compete with a free desktop. * With a free desktop you get many applications and functionality without haveing to download and try shareware or buy applications that you then find out do not what you want. This is the other free desktop bonus. This should be formulated much simpler. This is also a point where Windows and Mac can not compete. They have some free programs like iTunes or Internet Explorer but they are not trying to provide everything. I also think that it does not makes too much sense to communicate how GNOME might be better. The thing is that GNOME is no distribution and we do not want people to get GNOME, really. But we are sending mixed messages. We really only can advertise the use of a free desktop and not the use of GNOME. We only can advertise GNOME as a basis for software developers. if we advertise GNOME instead of the use of a free desktop (like some kind of Linux) we are rather trying to say: GNOME is better than KDE. The same is true for the other way round. I think our target grouo should not be Unix/Linux users that use a free desktop but users coming from other platforms. So what i would vote for is some kind of coordinated attack of all forces of the free desktop movement including Mozilla Foundation. We are all in the same boat. And the boat is the free desktop. I would love to see more than just contacts and some exchange of information but rather an answer to: * How can we enable as much users as possible to free their desktop? How can we play together? I think it is essential that we all send one or two same message out repeatedly and also that we concentrate on those aspects. I think if we try to communicate with the "just works"-thingy we are actually trying to be good geeks that just not only try to have a geeky desktop but something that is betterin the same category as all the other "just works"-desktops. I would be very pessimistic in the success of such a try. I think it is a good sign that we try to make things work, no question, but I am quite sure that we would be a lot more successfull if we concentrate on those categories where we are the leaders. I have the feeling that we all have the tendency to forget about those values/categories because we are thinking for years that we have to catch up with the others. But this has kept us beeing desktop underdogs. Thats why I even do not try to convince people that a free desktop is more easier than what they are used to work with. Most people will always have more of the "just works" effect with what they are used to than with anything else. So there it just does not matter if GNOME or KDE are really somehow simpler. We must get to the people that are starting to think about their freedom on the desktop, that are tired of the dependency of the company policy of Apple and Microsoft. I think of people like Mark Pilgrim: http://diveintomark.org/archives/2006/06/02/when-the-bough-breaks I think we can really build the best common ground on the arguments of why we think software should be free. I think people are not silly. We might not get everybody to switch, but that should not be our goal, either. Thilo ---- Blog: http://vinci.wordpress.com Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tpfennig -- marketing-list mailing list [email protected] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/marketing-list
