Re: Pulling this together...

[Claus Schwarm <c schwarm gmx net>]

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 13:36:09 -0700
Sriram Ramkrishna <sri aracnet com> wrote:

> No problem. :-)  It happens to me too.

Thanks. :)

> > If GNOME marketing is going to be based on a plan like "Some people
> > adress target groups X twice a year with action A, while others
> > adress group Y three times a year with action B", both groups won't
> > be heard. 
>
> But if you constrain them to things they don't want to do you won't
> get the help you get either.  You're method would require incentives
> to do so.  Maybe thats "Bright Shiny Future".  I don't know.

I don't propose to constrain them. There will always be people doing
"their thing". However, this will be a little bit of promotion, writing
an article somewhere, developing an app they want - this sort of things.
Non-Free users and especially students won't notice this with high
probablity.

> > Once more, sorry for misunderstanding your original mail. Maybe I'm
> > afraid of splitting marketing efforts: If things are organized
> > without a note here on the list, this is already happening.
>
> I think it will split regardless because of who you attract.  It's
> better to plan for it and embrace it.  Otherwise, it'll lead to
> frustration.

As long as these are random activities, it doesn't matter.

> > To answer your question:
> > * The prime audience should be university students, aged 17 to 28.
>
> OK.  Have you also considered mid 30s people?  (eg my age group) They
> live in a world where they are constantly bombarded by spyware and
> what not because of their use of IE/Windows and commercialism.  GNOME
> would provide a welcome respite from all that hubub.  GNOME == Place
> in the Country, WINDOWS == Big City.

Yes, I did. Categorized as people 30 - 49, probably married, probably
children, running a career, better income but lots of expenses.
Their social contacts are among themselves, don't go out very much.

People in this category can be sub-classified from our point of view
into:

* Non-random pre-Windows user: Had contact with other operating system
   before (UNIX, DOS, Amiga, Commodore64, BeOS, Mac, etc.)
* Win-only user: Bought a computer around 95 or later, highly unlikly to
   have experiences with other OS'es.
* Random Computer user: Knows only Windows, has absolutly no idea about
   other OSes, serves the internet, looks at mail, chats.

According to our interests:
* Non-random pre-Windows users, maybe not satisfied by Windows,
   but able to set up and actively search for alternatives: Highly
   likely to have heard about Linux, and maybe already bought a
   distribution. Most current Linux users are within this class. Knows
   about KDE and GNOME. Likes one or the other. No need to target.

* Non-random Win-only user: Knows only Win and loves it. Bill Gates is a
   genius, they think. Highly likely to *love* win. Very unlikely to
   switch.

* Random computer user: Best audience because we have everything they
   need. Needs somebody to set up Linux, can't do this on his own. Hard to
   target because they don't consume Linux Internet pages but television,
   and maybe special interests or local journals and news - things we have
   no money for.

Of cource, this was just a short description, and John will probably
ask: Where is your empirical data to back this up?" I have none.


> > Our first objective:
> > * Communicate to the rest of the community why this audience should
> > be
> >    adressed, which potential projects they may participate in if
> >    they like, what they can do to help, and why this is important.
>
> That sounds fine with me.  But it seems like we need more volunteers
> who are willing to do work.
>
> My question then is, what do you need to make your objective work?  

This is such a MEAN question.... ;)

> What do other people think of this direction?

I'd be interested in additional answers, too.

Claus