Does OpenOffice have funds to package their product? Packaging is usually the largest cost. Would it still be free or how much would it cost? I thought it was strictly download to keep down costs and kept the system on automatic drive.
Sent from my Kyocera Rise Rob Weir <[email protected]> wrote: >On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 5:25 PM, PETER ROMANO <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Hi Rob, >> >> Why would PC Manufacturers offer an "OPT-OUT" when they are getting >> marketing $$$ to offer the "OPT-IN" ? >> There are no funds for presenting OPT-OUT options on PCs that I am aware of. >> That's where you local stores have to offer the advantages of 'UNINSTALLING >> UNNECESSARY SOFTWARE' >> and replacing it with FREE APPLICATIONS offering the same or better >> productivity. >> > >I think manufacturers widely have the ability to sell PC's without >Microsoft Office, but they rarely offer alternatives. So it is a >binary, do you want Office, yes or no? OpenOffice is never part of >the discussion. > >But there are exceptions. A few weeks ago we received a request from >a small reseller in Slovenia asking about bundling OpenOffice. So it >does happen, but it is not mainstream. > >One possible audience would be the budget, off-brand manufacturer. If >they can offer a "fully loaded" PC using open source then they might >have a price advantage. But I don't know that business well enough to >know if that idea adds up. In practice it is possible that the supply >chain management and volume of the Dell's of the world beat out any >price advantage a smaller player might have by using open source. > >> This is a move that OpenOffice needs to explore, but I am not sure what can >> be offered in the way of incentives. >> >> I was employed in the past by Creative Labs, Inc. I worked for the Technical >> Training Department >> as a Training Specialist and was also a Key Retail Account Representative. >> Creative had employee discounts to present to store employees for all of the >> products Creative made. >> This was a help to offer incentives, as well as giveaways during training >> days. >> >> Offering boxed copies of OpenOffice to employees at training events or store >> events >> could be a way to get the word out to the most educated employees of the >> market. >> >> Getting into stores and educating sales and techs is the best way to offer >> alternatives >> to customers based on conversations within the store environment. > >Certainly we hear of Microsoft offering training to Best Buy employees >on how to sell the value of Windows. > >In any case, this does suggest some interesting questions that we >might be able to research: > >==Where do users get their productivity software== > >1) Provided by their employer > >2) Comes pre-installed on their PC > >3) Mail order > >4) Purchased in retail store > >5) Purchased online/electronic download > >Once someone already has MS Office installed, there is little >incentive for the user to explore alternatives. So raising awareness >before that purchase is key. > >> The only hold back would be the store culture. >> It has to be 'permitted' as part of the culture. >> >> Pete... >> >> Peter J Romano >> [email protected] >> >> >>> Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 10:56:55 -0500 >>> Subject: Holiday OpenOffice promotion opportunity? >>> From: [email protected] >>> To: [email protected] >>> >>> For those portions of the world that celebrate Christmas, in the next >>> three weeks we're coming into a major gift-giving season. I recently >>> bought a new PC as a gift for a family member. Anyone buying a new PC >>> faces several questions: how much RAM, how big a hard drive, but >>> also: what version of Microsoft Office to bundle? Home and School? >>> Professional? Small Business? The PC vendors get a sweet deal from >>> Microsoft to push Office. Although you can opt out and save $200 or >>> so, the PC vendors never seem to offer or even explain that there are >>> free alternatives. >>> >>> This is a hard nut to crack. As a free product, we're in many cases >>> better for the consumer. But we can't offer the same kind of kick >>> back / revenue sharing with the PC vendor that a commercial product >>> can do. 10% of zero is still zero. >>> >>> But maybe we can have a promotion directly to the consumer, raising >>> their awareness of free alternatives? >>> >>> >>> Brainstorming >>> -------------------- >>> >>> "OpenOffice -- our gift to the world" (too pompous?) >>> >>> Image of Santa's elves writing open source software >>> >>> New lyrics to traditional song like "Jingle Bells" (Open source, open >>> source, saving you big dough. Oh what fun it is to save by using >>> AOO!) >>> >>> "With the money I saved using Apache OpenOffice I bought a...." >>> >>> Could be a blog post, but a video would be even better. Could be >>> reused year after year. >>
