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List:       kde-promo
Subject:    [kde-promo] Re: WSJ Strikeout and TypeHeads [LONG]
From:       Neil Stevens <neil () qualityassistant ! com>
Date:       2003-04-10 21:29:11
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On Wednesday April 09, 2003 08:32, Mark Bucciarelli wrote:
> I'm no longer subscribed to this list, but an article in Monday's Wall
> Street Journal is prompting this email.  They did a big story on open
> source software, but did not mention KDE.  On page R6, they have a
> table like this:
> 
> OS
> 	Open		Linux
> 	Proprietary	Windows, Solaris, AIX
> Graphical User Interface
> 	Open		Gnome
> 	Proprietary	Windows, Macintosh
> Desktop Applications
> 	Open		Open Office, Ximian Desktop
> 	Proprietary	Microsoft Office
> Browser
> 	Open		Mozilla
> 	Proprietary	Internet Explorer, Netscape
> Group Email
> 	Open		Ximian Evolution
> 	Proprietary	Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes
> 
> A total strike out for KDE.

Either that, or the "big story" was done by a reporter who'd only gone as 
far as Ximian and AOL to research free software.  He didn't even get as 
far as finding a single OS vendor.  Compare "Linux" with "Ximian Desktop."  
If this reporter had done a halfway decent job, surely that'd have said 
"Red Hat Linux."  Perhaps a Ximian contact led this reporter around, 
convinced him that "All linux can use Ximian," or stuff like that.

No failure for KDE at all.  KDE didn't "strike out."  KDE wasn't even 
harmed.

> I would like to suggest that KDE adopt the approach that the folks at
> typo3 (www.typo3.com) have taken; in particular, their consultant
> registry and their "Typeheads" program
> (http://typo3.com/Contribute.1226.0.html).
> 
> Here are the duties of a typo3 TypeHead:

Please, no.

We don't need to start handing out titles.  That splits the community 
needlessly, reducing your potential volunteer pool.

We don't need to start assigning duties.  KDE is a volunteer effort.  Take 
or leave what efforts you are offered.

In fact, if you combine the two, you will get shoddy efforts by people 
looking to win the silly title.  The result: inadequately interested 
individuals doing halfway jobs while claiming to be official KDE 
representatives.  In other words, disaster.

> Perhaps this could be a function of KDE League, but frankly they are
> too closed with their finances for me and I have an irrational
> distrust of all those company logos on their page.  ;)   (It would be
> nice to see on-line income statements and balance sheets.)  Also,
> there have been bad vibes around the League--those on the "inside"
> seem over-worked and under-appreciated and those on the "outside"
> seem to feel excluded and suspicious.  Since we are all working for
> the same thing with good intentions, to me this suggests a structural
> problem that is limiting information flow.

So let's not create yet another clique of insiders, please.

> In any case, KDE isn't even on the Wall Street Journal's radar.  You
> can talk about conspiracies and how Sun and RedHat and Ximian and
> name_your_big_evil_company are plotting against KDE (some of which
> may be true), or take it as a wake up call.

As long as it's not a wake-up call to start imitating these companies whose 
practices make us call them evil or dishonest (like Ximian).

> I would like to help, but I don't even qualify according the the
> typehead criteria--I have not installed KDE on any companies machine.
> Actually, have you?  Do you know if any companies are running KDE in
> your area?  This would be valuable information to collect.

This is exactly why the title system would be such a mistake.  It shuts out 
a willing volunteer, and it distracts volunteer effort from the real goals 
like getting attention from lazy (aren't we all? :-) reporters.

> I could help set up such a local registry on the promo web site. 

Wasted effort at best, and a privacy thrat at worst.  Stay focused.

> But
> more discussion must come first.  George Staikos started some last
> January, albeit on a different tact, getting people out to do talks
> and attend conferences.  I think this, combined with the TypeHead
> grass-roots approach, would be extremely effective.

Handing out titles isn't a grass-roots approach.  Let's stick with the 
dissemination of information, and avoid splitting the community by 
creating insiders and outsiders.

> Ok, I'll close with a little usability test: I'm a report, and my
> first task is to find a press contact for Gnome.  My second task is
> to find one for KDE.
> 
> I'll pretend I am the Wall Street Journal Reporter, and my task is to
> find the name and phone number of a KDE press contact.
> 
> 1. Goto google, enter "gnome press contact"
> 2. Click the first link.
> 
> Now for KDE ...
> 
> 1. Google, search "kde press contact"
> 2. First hit is an email about press contacts in Brazil.
> 3. Second hit is a reply to that email.
> 4. Third hit is a Suse press release from 1999
> 5. Fourth hit is suse press release about kde 3.1
> 6.  Click that link
> 7.  Scroll to bottom of page.  No "For more info" contact info.
> 8.  There's a link to the full announcement.  Click that.
> 9.  Scroll to the bottom -- ah, there it is.
> 	Andreas Pour, KDE League, Inc.
> 	email and phone.
> 
> In fact, the press release was written by Andreas.
> 
> Now, try the same query but substitute gnome for kde.  Click on the
> first link.  What a difference.

Do you have a point, or better, a proposal to address your point?

Tou *are* aware that Google's database is a secret property of theirs, 
right?  And that they don't like it when people try to manipulate it?  
Let's not make an enemy of Google and get removed from the DB completely.

- -- 
Neil Stevens - neil@qualityassistant.com
"The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the
sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him
for the same act as the destroyer of liberty." -- Abraham Lincoln
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