[marketing-dev] Re: OpenOffice.org to become an Apache Foundation Incubator Project
Ian Lynch <[email protected]> Thu, 2 Jun 2011 18:37:04 +0100
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.openoffice.devel.marketing |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
--00504502a783dc5c6404a4be15e9 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 On 2 June 2011 16:42, Gozarks <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello again... and thank you (everyone) for keeping this whole > conversation so open and dynamic. As I have been listening, one key > question has evolved for me: Where do I fit in? This because, as > previously noted, I am not a coder... my expertise is marketing... and > I got involved with OOo because I LOVE the applications, am a devout > proponent of 'openness' (in comminication, self-governance, etc.), and > I genuinely appreciate worthwhile opportunities to contribute what I > know in the hopes of somehow 'making the world a better place'. > > That said, and Bernhard having raised the topic of OOo's "large area > of non-coding community," in context of Simon's encouragement that > non-coders who feel they have been significant conributors to OOo > should feel welcome to request inclusion in the Apache incubator > project, please allow me to share the following: > > For starters, I do not consider myself a 'significant contributor' to > OOo, however (and I say this with utmost respect), it seems to me that > this is more of a 'glitch' (or a 'bug' if you will) in 'the management > system' that has been operational in OOo. > > About which I rush to add that I do not see this as the 'fault' of any > one person or group of people but more like a natural and (to some > degree) necessary part of the process of organizational growth and > community development, that may (once identified) be corrected and > improved... much the same way y'all engineer 'patches' to fix bugs in > programs. > > In this regard I would respectfully suggest that the 'bug' I see is > that while OOo has a comprehensive 'marketing' community, as I am > aware of things the vast majority of the folks who are involved with > and make critical decisions about such projects as graphic design, > news release authoring, website design (user interface) and the > development of promotional strategy are not and have never worked as > professionals in any of these fields. > > That is, as I am aware (and please correct me if I am wrong) most of > the folks who are doing this 'marketing' work have vast professional > expertise in coding and the complexities of sophisticated > technological engineering, yet they are 'trying' to do a job > (marketing) which requires an equally sophisticated yet substantively > different set of 'complex engineering skills' and thus things which > should (in terms of state-of-the-art marketing practice) be routinely > done are unknown, trivialized or overlooked. > > And again respectfully, I find this especially true in terms of the > OOo marketing community's (lack of?) a comprehensive plan to > 'outreach' to the non-coding 'end users' of the programs. That is, > every nuance of marketing (promotional materials, conferences, news > releases) that I have been aware of over these past several years has > been dedicated to and focused on 'coders'... which I personally see as > a major glitch because it represents to me a 'disconnect' between the > folks who are 'creating the tool' and the folks who are 'using the > tool' to do work... (even though ALL of you use OOo 'to do work', > respectfully, none of us are 'typical end users'. > > And my major concern about this is that over the long haul the > 'product' will no longer 'meet the needs' of the typical consumer. > > But then hey, like I said, I do not see myself as a significant > contributer to OOo. Just offering a personal perspective... (((hugs))) > ~Christine > Hi Christine, I think it is more complicated. John Mcreesh constructed a very detailed marketing plan - some would say overly so. Some marketing volunteers were technically savvy but by no means all. Some had qualifications/experience in marketing others none. Some marketing initiatives worked well with no budgets others didn't. I understand the point that over-focus on code can lose sight of the fact that the code is not much use if no-one uses it. My own quest has been to try and find a sustainable business model that could generate resources for marketing because at the time there was resource from Sun for developers but not for marketing. Things change. Under Apache I don't see that the situation for resources for marketing will be a lot different. -- Ian Ofqual Accredited IT Qualifications The Schools ITQ www.theINGOTs.org +44 (0)1827 305940 You have received this email from the following company: The Learning Machine Limited, Reg Office, 36 Ashby Road, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B79 8AQ. Reg No: 05560797, Registered in England and Wales. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] For additional commands send email to [email protected] with Subject: help --00504502a783dc5c6404a4be15e9 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On 2 June 2011 16:42, Gozarks <span dir=3D"ltr"><<a href=3D"mailto:gozar= [email protected]">[email protected]</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class=3D"gmai= l_quote"><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;borde= r-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"> Hello again... and thank you (everyone) for keeping this whole<br> conversation so open and dynamic. As I have been listening, one key<br> question has evolved for me: Where do I fit in? This because, as<br> previously noted, I am not a coder... my expertise is marketing... and<br> I got involved with OOo because I LOVE the applications, am a devout<br> proponent of 'openness' (in comminication, self-governance, etc.), = and<br> I genuinely appreciate worthwhile opportunities to contribute what I<br> know in the hopes of somehow 'making the world a better place'.<br> <br> That said, and Bernhard having raised the topic of OOo's "large ar= ea<br> of non-coding community," in context of Simon's encouragement that= <br> non-coders who feel they have been significant conributors to OOo<br> should feel welcome to request inclusion in the Apache incubator<br> project, please allow me to share the following:<br> <br> For starters, I do not consider myself a 'significant contributor' = to<br> OOo, however (and I say this with utmost respect), it seems to me that<br> this is more of a 'glitch' (or a 'bug' if you will) in '= ;the management<br> system' that has been operational in OOo.<br> <br> About which I rush to add that I do not see this as the 'fault' of = any<br> one person or group of people but more like a natural and (to some<br> degree) necessary part of the process of organizational growth and<br> community development, that may (once identified) be corrected and<br> improved... much the same way y'all engineer 'patches' to fix b= ugs in<br> programs.<br> <br> In this regard I would respectfully suggest that the 'bug' I see is= <br> that while OOo has a comprehensive 'marketing' community, as I am<b= r> aware of things the vast majority of the folks who are involved with<br> and make critical decisions about such projects as graphic design,<br> news release authoring, website design (user interface) and the<br> development of promotional strategy are not and have never worked as<br> professionals in any of these fields.<br> <br> That is, as I am aware (and please correct me if I am wrong) most of<br> the folks who are doing this 'marketing' work have vast professiona= l<br> expertise in coding and the complexities of sophisticated<br> technological engineering, yet they are 'trying' to do a job<br> (marketing) which requires an equally sophisticated yet substantively<br> different set of 'complex engineering skills' and thus things which= <br> should (in terms of state-of-the-art marketing practice) be routinely<br> done are unknown, trivialized or overlooked.<br> <br> And again respectfully, I find this especially true in terms of the<br> OOo marketing community's (lack of?) a comprehensive plan to<br> 'outreach' to the non-coding 'end users' of the programs. T= hat is,<br> every nuance of marketing (promotional materials, conferences, news<br> releases) that I have been aware of over these past several =A0years has<br> been dedicated to and focused on 'coders'... which I personally see= as<br> a major glitch because it represents to me a 'disconnect' between t= he<br> folks who are 'creating the tool' and the folks who are 'using = the<br> tool' to do work... (even though ALL of you use OOo 'to do work'= ;,<br> respectfully, none of us are 'typical end users'.<br> <br> And my major concern about this is that over the long haul the<br> 'product' will no longer 'meet the needs' of the typical co= nsumer.<br> <br> But then hey, like I said, I do not see myself as a significant<br> contributer to OOo. Just offering a personal perspective... (((hugs)))<br> ~Christine<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Hi Christine,</div><div><br>= </div><div>I think it is more complicated. John Mcreesh constructed a very = detailed marketing plan - some would say overly so. Some marketing voluntee= rs were technically savvy but by no means all. Some had qualifications/expe= rience in marketing others none. =A0Some marketing initiatives worked well = with no budgets others didn't. I understand the point that over-focus o= n code can lose sight of the fact that the code is not much use if no-one u= ses it. My own quest has been to try and find a sustainable business model = that could generate resources for marketing because at the time there was r= esource from Sun for developers but not for marketing. Things change. Under= Apache I don't see that the situation for resources for marketing will= be a lot different.=A0</div> </div>-- <br>Ian<div><pre>Ofqual Accredited IT Qualifications The Schools ITQ</pre><pre><a href=3D"http://www.theINGOTs.org" target=3D"_b= lank">www.theINGOTs.org</a>=A0+44 (0)1827 305940</pre><pre>You have receive= d this email from the following company: The Learning Machine Limited, Reg Office, 36 Ashby Road, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B79 8AQ. Reg No: 05560797, Registered in England and Wales.=20 </pre></div><br> --00504502a783dc5c6404a4be15e9--