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List:       kde-promo
Subject:    Re: [kde-promo] Take a look at Linux1.no
From:       "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo () kde ! org>
Date:       2006-06-16 21:39:48
Message-ID: 200606161539.50107.aseigo () kde ! org
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On Friday 16 June 2006 12:30, Birger Kollstrand wrote:
> Fredag 16 juni 2006 00:38, skrev Aaron J. Seigo:
> But you do miss a point again. This is the site norwegian newcommers are
> finding very early. They are met with a pro Gnome atitude. I prefere the
> KDE environment to grow.

if this was a mature market where the size of the market itself isn't growing 
your statement here that implies that for KDE to grow GNOME must suffer would 
make sense. reality is that for the next decade or so both can grow at their 
own pace without stumbling into each other over a fight for scarce resources 
(users).

> The oops is about the actual current profile which 
> is leaning towards Gnome. Not to cheat the poll.

i wasn't implying you should "cheat the poll". nor am i saying "don't worry 
about it". what i -am- saying is that that particular site evidently has a 
very small user base compared to probable size of desktop linux users in 
norway.

in other words, the solution is to simply get more kde content and more 
kde-friendly people on that site.

> > well, it's better than if most of the users were going MacOS or Windows
> > =) we really try not to encourage a "KDE against GNOME" mentality as it
> > too often just devolves into squabbling and embarrassing events and makes
> > the whole open source desktop community look bad (hello /.) ...
>
> You and I will not agree on this issue. I think we should market KDE
> against Gnome. Especially in the tech heavy environments.

negative campaigning and comparative marketing are two of the weakest forms of 
marketing one can do. and in this case it also sends out a very negative 
message to those who aren't already using kde or gnome. it also severely 
damages our (KDE's) ability to network in the industry at large and engage 
usefully (for KDE) in efforts such as freedesktop.org. in other words, 
the "anti-GNOME" approach that has been tried at times in the past has caused 
real and non-negligable damage to the project. much/most of it has been fixed 
now, but it's taken us a few years to do that.

it is absolutely fatal for us to engage in a marketing war against each other 
at this time.

but good news! we have >1% and <5% of market share right now. that means that 
95-99% of people in a given area aren't using any open source desktop. so 
target those people with positive messages about kde. they don't have any 
position either way (kde or gnome) so give them reasons to make kde their 
selection. if we target the non-linux users more successfully than other 
people then we will end up with quite a nice share of the market.

> > so in other words, be helpful, positive and pro-active. people gravitate
> > towards such things naturally.
>
> I do find this very naive.

and yet it works.

> > and spite. if that isn't part of the equation, however, people will
> > choose what works best for them ... and those are the users we want.
>
> They actually need to get good adcvice on what is best for them.

yes. which is essentially what i said as well =)

> Now I ask again:
> Is there a god "10 points" to convince a new user to choose KDE when they
> want to try Linux?

i agree with Kurt: pick your own favourite points. note that it's what appeals 
to you, you'll come across a lot more effectively in conversation.

for me, i often note things like:

 - kde is the most popular free / open source software desktop (most people 
find comfort in numbers ;)

 - it's flexible while remaining usable. it doesn't try and limit what you can 
do so that you can acclompish whatever it is you need to get done.

 - you'll find our technology used in a lot of other places, such as in MacOS 
X (webbrowser, sherlock when it was around, nokia phones, etc) which says a 
lot about the quality of our software

 - we have an amazing user community as you can see at kde-look.org, 
kde-apps.org and our user mailing lists.

 - cool stuff? you bet! superkaramba, amarok, print to pdf in every app that 
prints, a truly useful file dialog, konqueror (the best filemanager out 
there, period), kio (show people how to use fish.. that's an instant winner), 
dcop and more ...

 - apps are generally consistent. e.g. there's exactly one way in all kde apps 
to configure toolbars and set keyboard shortcuts. print dialogs are the same 
in every app. etc, etc. .. this means you don't have to learn as much.

 - if you use desktop linux, you're probably going to end up using kde apps 
anyways like k3b or amarok. if you use them inside a kde desktop they start 
faster and use less total memory on your system.

 - for developers we simply have the best development tools: designer, 
kdevelop, kde frontends to valgrind, build systems, nice APIs, etc...

 - if you need calendaring and email combined, it's hard to be kontact. this 
is a highlight example of the integration in kde since kontact is actually 
half a dozen individual apps all cooperating behind the scenes to create one 
full groupware app: you can even run the components separately (kmail, 
korganizer, kaddressbook, etc)! and of course the integration doesn't stop 
there: kontact happens to integrate very nicely with the kopete instant 
messenger.

but that's just me and i don't use all the above in every situation. it's 
highly dependant on the person / people.

were i to put together a static website with "10 points" i'd probably start by 
doing separate lists for different categories: media, business use, content 
creation, enthusiasts, free software advocates, etc ...

> Supporting the evangelists can't be bad Aaron.

was that what i said? no. i didn't answer the question immediately because 
there was a much more important attitude to nip in the bud. 

but just for fun , let me see if i can work this into a real flame war: your 
mother smells of elderberries! oooooh, zing!

-- 
Aaron J. Seigo
Undulate Your Wantonness
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43

Full time KDE developer sponsored by Trolltech (http://www.trolltech.com)

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