On Thu, Mar 16, 2006 at 04:42:04PM +1100, Howard Lowndes wrote: > just as MS has > >worked for the last twenty odd years to make Windows mean something other > >than "Hole in the Wall" (hmmm, but that is another discussion). > > ...but everyone know what a window is, very few know what a ubuntu is...
What does it matter if people know what a window is, when it comes to branding an OS? Do you honestly believe people looked at a boxed set of Windows 3.1 on the shelf of 1990 Harvey Norman and said to themselves "That's what I need on my computer. Now, where's the curtains to match?" and then proceeded to purchase and be happy with their product? The simple fact is, people associate the word Windows with the fisher price widgets because Microsoft has spent a metric arse-load of money making it so. You could argue, I suppose, that in the absence of a massive marketing budget, Linux distros should keep to the names that don't need explanation, but I don't think that's going to work -- namespace exhaustion problems come to mind immediately, not to mention the size of a name you'd need to properly describe your differentiation in the marketplace. Quite frankly, in the world of blogs and Internet-scale marketing, you don't need Microsoft's ad budget to get your name known. I doubt that Canonical has spent much in marketing, comparatively (although the CD shipments must cost a bit) and yet a *lot* of people know their name -- I have had people who are very not into computers find out I'm into Linux, and specifically ask me about Ubuntu. - Matt -- A byte walks into a bar and orders a pint. Bartender asks him "What's wrong?" The byte says "Parity error." Bartender nods and says "Yeah, I thought you looked a bit off." -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
