Re: The "What is GNOME?" Answer

[Claus Schwarm <c schwarm gmx net>]

Hm. If somebody asks what GNOME is, they probably don't want to hear what the 
GNOME project is. In fact, that's two things, isn't it? The "product" and the 
effort to produce the product.

People with background knowledge in OpenSource/FreeSoftware will know that both
things exists, even if you mention only one. People without background knowledge
don't mind in the beginning but want to know _if_ GNOME is something useful.

Thus, we better say so.

And there's no need to state for whom GNOME is; people are only interested if 
GNOME does something useful for them personally.

If you still like to explain the GNOME project, it's better to state what it 
does, not what it is.

Additionally, beginners in OpenSource/FreeSoftware don't mind about the desktop 
as long as it's not in their way. In fact, Ex-windows users will have a hard 
time first to understand the differences between a window manager and a desktop.

But they mind about the existance of good-looking applications!

Next, to say something consists of two things (desktop and dev. platform) is 
complicated. But something can be a combination of two things, making it 
automatically more interesting and more valuable.

Next, the term "intitutive" is usual in GUI discussions, but not very truthful: 
if something is intitutive for you depends on your previous knowledge. Thus, 
this is a promise one can't really fullfill.

Thus, I'd say: Let's go back to one of the golden rules of advertising: 
Refer as to what others say or do!