Re: [gnome-cy] A body

[Kevin Donnelly <kevin dotmon com>]

On Dydd Sadwrn 16 Awst 2003 8:35 yb, David Chan wrote:
> I'd be very glad to see Knoppix Cymraeg and I think Golwg could be a
> good way of getting through to people.  But I reckon lots of people
> wouldn't use a cover CD at all.  I was surprised in the Eisteddfod by
> how non-technical most people were that I spoke to.  Lots of them didn't
> know they were using Microsoft Office every day.  It became clear to me
> that not many people would install Welsh OpenOffice.org from CD/internet
> without the help of someone technical - people aren't confident enough
> to change things on their computers even if we promise it'll be very
> easy.

Yes, i think this is the main drawback to trying to do Windows software in 
Welsh - the vast majority of people are wary of using anything that didn't 
come with the PC, unless it's a game or a point-and-click download, and of 
course most consumer "support" lines will immediately jump on "non-standard 
software" as the most likely reason for any "problems".  That's why I said 
earlier that there is an awesome education task to do.  It is possible, but 
IMHO if we are doing that it makes sense to have the education effort focus 
on changing OS as well as language.  I have been really surprised over the 
last week about how little awareness computer-users actually have about the 
computer they use.

> I reckon it would be better just to have an article in Golwg, raising
> awareness about what's available, with an email address / phone number /
> website at the bottom for ordering CDs.  If people were interested they
> could ask a techie friend to get a copy and install it for them.  But if
> we distribute 12,000 CDs with Golwg, 11,500 of them may get used as
> coffee mats - IIRC Netscape's success rate with distributed CDs was
> about 3%.

Interesting point.

> The people I'd like to see on the hit list are teachers, sysadmins,
> computer shops, people working in offices, people who run companies etc
> - techies, or people who make decisions about software.  I think if we
> try to market to individuals who aren't technical, they'll probably say
> "great idea!" but keep using their old stuff in English from Microsoft
> because of inertia.  I think it'd be better to use Lottery money to
> market to organisations, because they spend money on software all the
> time and they're more likely to make definite decisions about what they
> buy.

Well, I'm not against the Golwg idea if the money to do it can be found, 
because it will certainly raise awareness.  But from the point of view of 
getting bums on seats, trying to market direct to "decision-makers" probably 
makes more sense.  The problem is getting lists of them.  I know the 
Federation for Small Businesses will allow you to include mailouts with their 
mag, but how effective this would be I don't know.

Of course, all this only emphasises the need to think about the next steps.  
There's no point putting a lot of effort into the translation is we can't 
convert that into users.

Best wishes

Kevin

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