Re: [libreoffice-marketing] Re: international DVD/stick [was: Re: Are there any BrOffice people on this list?]

On 02/28/2011 03:06 PM, Marc Paré wrote:
> Hi Bernhard:
>
> Le 2011-02-28 12:42, Bernhard Dippold a écrit :
> > In my personal opinion most of the content of a DVD is far more likely
> > to be language dependent than regional.
> >
> > For regions with more than one main language it might be reasonable to
> > provide combined versions of two (or three) languages, but most of the
> > people in the world use one main language.
> >
> > Even multi-language DVD share a large portion of content that doesn't
> > need to be translated. So it's just a partial work to be done on top of
> > the similar work for single language DVDs.
> >
> > Combining the right files and creating ISO files from the right content
> > is probably a task that takes some time to be done without much manual
> > interaction. Files have to be flagged for language (or multi-language),
> > searched and included in the ISO, the UI needs automatic marking /
> > hiding of links to files not translated in the target language.
> >
> > There might be a part of the DVD kept free for local additions, but I
> > agree with Charles, that one officially supported version of a DVD and
> > USB-stick has a larger impact on international marketing than single
> > regional activities, allowing special groups to create their own DVD,
> > while users in any other parts of the world don't have access to such
> > resources.
>
> Unfortunately, this is where perhaps the North American model does not 
> work. Perhaps the language model works best in Europe.
>
> In Canada for example, we have 2 official languages English and French 
> Canadian. As far as I know, any disks deployed for example to 
> educational systems are given preference to disks with combined 
> English/French on the disk. Also, French language residents are spread 
> over all the country and it would be more practical to offer a 
> combined disc at conferences rather than language based disks.
>
> As far as I understand, in many regions, many American states are 
> (although unofficially) English and Spanish language based. In all 
> practicality, a bilingual EN-ES disc with files for the US market 
> should include both EN and ES on the disc.
>
> From a marketing point of view, imagine arriving at either a Canadian 
> or US conference with both EN and FR or ES on separate disks. It would 
> certainly look very strange if you ran out of either EN or FR or ES 
> discs and have either language group find that you are not supporting 
> their language with discs not being available.

Yes I agree it would look bad to run out of one language, like that.  So 
the point is we will have all three languages on the final release DVD.  
The three language versions are a step in the process.  Each language 
set can be on the same DVD before the merger [i.e. go back and forth 
between language version of each page].
The English folders stays the same.  French end of the name for the 
Spanish language files.  This will keep the three language sets separate.

> It is far more "marketing wise" to offer these discs with languages 
> offered on the same disc. Not doing so would be a serious error in 
> judgement for the North American market. Drew has already mentioned 
> that some of the Hispanic community has let it known that they feel 
> let down with no support (SCALE conference).
>
> As for Central and South America, perhaps there are fewer problems 
> with languages. Brazil, as you know, is BR-PT and the rest of the 
> other countries are Spanish. Perhaps there, a language based DVD would 
> be applicable. So, Brazil-PT would be found on the LibreOffice PT 
> version of the disc. All other countries would be found on the 
> LibreOffice ES DVD. I imagine this would be up to discussion with the 
> Central/South American membership. You may find however that they may 
> prefer a regional DVD for South America supporting ES and BR-PT on the 
> same disc.
>
> Again, the offer to support Central/South America was due to some 
> interest from some members and as the North American DVD was being 
> planned for ES support, it was just as easy to add ES support for 
> them. The offer went out as there seems to be very little movement on 
> the ES list.
The Spanish files should work for all Spanish speaking countries, I 
hope.  Beyond that, I do not know what we can do at this point.

> IMO, we need to treat the DVD destined to N.America more as a regional 
> disc. We (N. Americans) can/will find member support for the DVD 
> upkeep for both the US and Canada.
Add Spanish to that, as soon as we can find the people to help maintain 
that part.
> > > So, IMO, regional DVD/USB sticks for the LibreOffice project would be
> > > more practical for the North/Central/South American regions.
> >
> > I think that a common effort by the international marketing leading to
> > English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and German versions of the DVD
> > could be more practical for the entire community...
> >
> > Combining the language dependent content to English/French or
> > English/French/Spanish versions might be appropriate for certain
> > markets, but as you already stated, free space on DVD is restricted.
>
> Yes, but it looks like it is possible to do so for all of these 
> languages destined for use in the Americas.
>
> > > And yes, any help with the DVD/USB projects would be most welcome.
> >
> > +1
> >
> > If I understood Drew right, the North American DVD is based on the
> > German LibreOfficeBox, so the effort has already been shared.
> >
> > Perhaps there is a possibility to improve this interaction even more...
> >
> > Best regards
> >
> > Bernhard
>
> Yes, I believe the LibreOfficeBox effort is remarkable. They have done 
> an excellent job on the DE disk. We have used their model and are 
> applying it with some tweaks for our DVD. I would definitely agree 
> that closer support would be advantageous. Yes, Tim and Drew are our 
> main leads and contributors to the project.
>
> BTW ... we are also looking for space on a server for our ISO as well 
> as possibility to ftp into the server account.
>
> Cheers
>
> Marc


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