Dear All: A list to discuss the issues would be great, and Martin was correct. I did want to pass out tech information in private (call me crazy that way). There does need to be a forum of sorts to discuss the look and feel of the site.
Here's what I'm picturing: I'd like to see a flashy homepage that let's people cycle through some of the 'testimonials' we're going to need to get over time. Mac's ad campaign for the I'm a Mac I'm a PC thing works really well because it forces the customers to identify themselves as a computer. "Which mac are you?" Ubuntu can't make that same plug. It does need to break down the user/machine barrier though, and start to get people to identify themselves as being a Ubuntu user. To that end I'm picturing something along the lines of "Hi, I'm Jacob and I'm a Ubuntu User." From there I'd start explaining why. Initially we'll need to just get *something* going and so we'll have to take whatever we can get from youtube, but eventually a large chunk of the site needs to be people from a variety of demographics saying "Hi, I'm a Ubuntu User." My 7 year old will probably pose for one of the first of these videos this week. We'll also need to find the right balance between testimonials and technical specs. Once again, I'm a big fan of the variations of Ubuntu (Edubuntu being my personal favorite). These variations probably confuse people getting used to pronouncing "Ubuntu." We'll have to find a way to discuss them without making it confusing or intimidating. Down the line we can clean up the whole site: Find someone good with flash and make it splashy (see the windows mojave project). For now I think we ought to get a web template up there, host some of the best youtube videos and write pages of tech data (or copy them from existing pages). When we get to the point where people can add their own "Hi I'm me, and I'm a Ubuntu user" videos then we'll be at the stage where we can put the word out. Ubuntu does get a lot of geek press, and a good press release can go a long way. The OS has already come this far on word of mouth. Imagine if the NYTimes & KimKomando & USAToday picked up a press release that said we were taking the 'bull by the horns.' People will stand up and pay attention. The product is already sound. The community has been talking for years (I've been catching up on my reading) about the differences and why this is better. We've got a time crunch of beating M$'s ad campaign for Windows 7, which has already started with the 'leak' of a beta. The timing for this thing is right. So now I'm tempted to go and grab a web-template from online somewhere and start replacing images with Ubuntu logos (the No programming skills are kicking in) and start piecing things together. I'd rather not do that. I'm hoping that someone will have the skills to design a template that we can all look at and comment on. The registration is in process for whyubuntu.com has begun. Once I can get some hosting data, I'll pass that along privily. That's pretty much all I've got for ideas.... I hope it's something worth reading. I hope I'm going in the right direction. -Jacob Just thinking.... A section of this should always be available to have folks post their youtube vids. Couldn't we modify the code from a blog comment box, or a php guestbook so that one of us reviews the video to make sure it's on-topic? I'd like the community to feel like they have a part in this //it's a huge step in product identification// It also needs to look professional. -- ubuntu-marketing mailing list [email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-marketing
