Hello, I am new here but I thought I would give my two cents on the matter of marketing Ubuntu.
>From my experience, people (around here at least) want their computer to run Facebook flawlessly and look pretty. As much as I like Ubuntu, it is by no means pretty. Even compared to Windows. Security? Not many 'average users' care about security. On paper they do but in the 'wild' they don't. They want it to be easy and quick. Security tends to add additional time to the user experience. I'm not saying this is bad. Free? People are used to paying hundreds of dollars (or pirating) their operating system so when a free one is introduced, it is automatically much worse. This is all well known I'm sure but everything I read about Ubuntu and GNU/Linux in general, it's all about being more secure and free. No one cares. This hasn't worked for the past 10+ years and it will continue not to work. Support. Oh support. None of my family or friends use forums, know what IRC is or have any inkling to contribute. We can't expect people to go to IRC to figure out their problems. They can now get official tech support which is awesome for everyone involved. This needs to be pushed more. There are two majour problems (in my opinion) with Ubuntu being accepted by the general population. Schools and computer sales/service stores. No school in Ontario (that I know of) use GNU/Linux in any part of the education system. If we're looking for a greater market share within the next 5-10 years, we're going to have to focus on the schools. Children will most likely use Windows or MacOS in their homes and with using Windows in school, they know nothing else. If they were to learn more about GNU/Linux in school (even how easy or comparable to Windows it is), they might be more inclined to purchase a Ubuntu machine when they go off to college/university or enter the work force. No education = no knowledge. Computer sales/service stores. If you walk into a tech repair shop around here and ask "Do you deal with Ubuntu here?", they would reply with something along the lines of "Ahh no, but there's a doctor's office next door if you need it checked out". I worked at a 'computer consultants' business for a while in high school years ago and no other employee had even heard of GNU/Linux. How is this possible? Seriously? So, back to marketing... I have just recently checked out the marketing material available for Ubuntu and I was greatly disappointed. Most of it is years old. We need to develop more marketing material that everyone could use. We need 'people of authority' (paid employees, etc) from the Ubuntu community to go to the school boards and other institutions to introduce Ubuntu as they tend not to take a couple guys off the street too seriously. Are there any 'official' reports on how much a school could save each year by going open source? Is there a fund that people can donate for the purpose of marketing? I would certain donate. The product could be the best thing since sliced bread but if no one knows about it, what good is it? The fund could be used for getting billboards in huge cities around the world, ads in magazines, a blimp, whatever. A central ad campaign would probably be good as well. I know there were attempts at a copy of the Apple commercials (or at least that's what I remember) but I never heard anything more about it. The store should also probably offer more products and maybe attempt to sell them to large retail chains to resell. The computer bags, shirts, mice, mouse pads... I would buy them from a Walmart or whatever store around here. That might be a little difficult though considering Walmart dropped Ubuntu (they did didn't they?). Sorry about this long winded, unorganized email. I am sadly not a writer. Andy Watson Hamilton, Ontario Canada On 10-08-05 01:29 PM, Randall Ross wrote: > I'd like to see more focus on intentional marketing, much beyond the > current "word-of-mouth grass-roots it'll grow organically" stuff. > > Anyone else? > > http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21357 (See solution #5) > > Cheers, > Randall > Ubuntu Vancouver. > > > On 10-08-04 11:59 AM, [email protected] wrote: >> The mailing list seems dead. Is it still alive. Does it serve a purpose >> still? >> >> >> > > -- ubuntu-marketing mailing list [email protected] Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-marketing
