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List:       kde-promo
Subject:    [kde-promo] Who do we target,
From:       Danil Dotsenko <dd () accentsolution ! com>
Date:       2006-03-24 2:31:04
Message-ID: 200603231831.04780.dd () accentsolution ! com
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Thursday 23 March 2006 14:00 Sebastian Kügler:
> > Thursday 23 March 2006 10:33 Sebastian Kügler
> > 
> > > I think it's a good idea to have that stuff, something like "Find out
> > > what KDE is", which takes you to a low-barrier page that explains what
> > > KDE is for people that are unknown to the concept of different
> > > Operating Systems. That would improve our visibility quite a lot. That
> > > page should also have a bunch of screenshots, just because they're sexy
> > > and make the whole thing tangible.
> 
> On Thursday 23 March 2006 22:53, Danil Dotsenko wrote:
> > I generally like the approach Plasma.kde.org site took:
> > "Users VS. Developers (+Artists)" May be it's time to think about
> > dual-personality for KDE.org
> 
> Triple-, I think. "What is KDE for {users|developers|companies}?", very
> roughly?

I thought this was discussed many times already. :)

The "developers / companies" divide may be misleading, because both groups are 
"developers."  You probably meant "Enthusiast developers / Commercial 
developers"

Just for practice I brainstormed a bit. (Business degree here :) ) Then, added 
KDE-centric analysis to it. 
(Declaimer: This is a VERY general judgment)

I. USERS
I.a. "OS is somewhat irrelevant, what matters is what I can do on it."
I.b. "Yet, if I ask my neighbor about some problem with computer, he better be 
familiar with it."
I.c. "How easily can I get it (KDE, linux, whatever), and how soon will it 
start doing what I want (chat; steal music from net; search for porno; check 
out shoes, handbags and cosmetics; run the Tax software, be able to fill out 
those government PDF forms)?" 

KDE-centric view on "USERS":
I.a. Screenshots and semi-centralized (for ease of searching) / edited blogs 
about the multitude of programs and uses of KDE are needed. There was the 
"KDE Mag" idea thrown around. A mag, or a User-centric planet-kde-like stream 
would do wanders. After I am done with my CFA exam (4 june) I will start "KDE 
World Software Gems" series on my blog. If it gets picked up by either, 
better. We need to show the breadth of uses. A lot of this thinking went into 
the KDE 3.5.x screenshots I am helping with.
I.b. We need to say to people "KDE has millions of "neighbors" on-line now." 
Aside from forums.kde.org, there are lots of distro-centric forums, that are 
usually much more useful in solving KDE issues. (linuxquestion.org for 
Slackware for example) We can list them next to the distro list discussed 
earlier.
I.c. See the distro list discussed under "KDE banners and such stuff" for "How 
to get it easily?" See I.a. for the rest"
All-in-all, the picture is relatively good. The problem is no many users know 
about it.

II. ENTHUSIAST DEVELOPER:
II.a. "Give me full control, yet make it easier to get the project done!"
II.b. "Make sure that whatever I write will be accessible and liked by as many 
users as possible = boundless sense of accomplishment and/or credits / 
experience toward that actual, PAID job."
II.c. "I want a free platform that allows me to show quickly full extent of my 
ingenuity and skills"

KDE-centric view on "ENTHUSIAST DEVELOPER":
II.a. Sold. Any detractors? Just look on kde-apps and you get the picture.
II.b see II.a. Need more "enthusiast to paid developer / associated commercial 
success" stories. I hope we have them.
II.c. See II.a.
The picture is the best of all platforms. Lets keep it up.

III. NICHE MARKET (relatively smaller volumes) COMMERCIAL DEV:
(CAD joints like Autodesk, large Accounting / CRM package joints, to some 
degree Adobe)
III.a. "If I write for a platform, it is better to be stable (less support 
issues), or controlled by me (can predict and control support issues)" "If I 
write high-price software, the cost of OS is irrelevant. The user will run 
the OS I tell them to run."

KDE-centric view on "NICHE MARKET COMMERCIAL DEV:"
III.a. "Stable and controllable" may be achieved with RedHat and Suse-like 
platforms and "community-based" stable platforms to only a small degree. 
Stability of a platform is usually measured by money behind it.  RedHat is 
pretty much a lost cause, they gave up on "Linux on desktop" long time ago. 
Suse's 10.1 is shaping up to be the best-featured KDE (imo) PRO linux 
desktop. This hissy-feat crap about "we are not No1 there" has to stop. 
Otherwise, we will stop being even No2. KDE devs have to hide their religious 
disgust with Novel, because you are the only people who are disgusted about 
it. Engage instead. Better for us all. We have to stop spitting in the hand 
that feeds many of us. The hand has its dignity too. Once, again, we return 
to "plugging" the "KDE-friendly" distros on the kde.org web site.
The picture here is muddy. We need segregate less-emotional people into a 
"business face" group. 

IV. MASS MARKET (larger volumes, lower prices) COMMERCIAL DEV:
(Intuit, what used to be Macromedia,  thousand ISVs that write custom DB 
frontends for places like real estate, medical offices.)
IV.a. "we write for the platform our potential client will have all his other 
software on. So, if they use MS Office (crap load of offices use Excel 
spreadsheets tweaked out with macros in VB for example) for it's core, we 
will try to augment and build around that. Not, revolutionize." 

KDE-centric view on "MASS MARKET COMMERCIAL DEV:"
IV.a. With KDE 3.x no chance we can promote to them. It's the already 
discussed issue of "Do I code for QT (multiplatform) or KDE (not)?" Many 
commercial-oriented projects just went with QT. 
With the "XML-based signaling of supported features" and KDE/QT "transparency" 
idea that came up for 4 series we have a HUGE opportunity to make any QT 
multi-platform app - a KDE "native" app. We really need to prepare to promote 
that like there's no tomorrow. It really saves us from having to port kdelibs 
to Windows. 
The picture here, presently sucks, but looks awesome 2 years down the line. 
Let's hope we don't die by then.

-- 
 (\ /)
(O.o)
(> <) Suslik strikes again. You lose 2 shield and 3 stamina
 
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