Andy:
I have to agree with much of your analysis and I've certainly had
similar experiences.
I've found some good to extraordinary pieces in the spreadubuntu site,
but as far as a coordinated marketing approach? I don't see much of
that happening. It's quite disappointing as I really do appreciate the
Ubuntu product. Grass roots is all well and good, but I would hope that
with a product as mature and developed as 10.04+ appears to be, more
concrete, coordinated campaigns would be launched.
Date: Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:22:58 -0400
From: Andy Watson <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [ubuntu-marketing] This List Still alive?
To: [email protected]
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
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
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