[libreoffice-marketing] Re: LibreOffice branding and marketing

Hi,


I forgot to post my opinion... ;)

> Please see some feedback below for improving the brand. In general I
> can say, that Libre Office liberately oushes itself into a niche
> market, where it in my opinion doesn't need to be. This is a strategic
> decision, but I believe, but MS Office is not superior to Libre Office
> and therefore Libre Office can be also advertised to the mass market:

Agreed.  I use LibreOffice because not it's a cheap MS Office compatible,
but greater than MS Office for me.


> - You can see this on the start page of Libre Office - Why do you say
> "...the community has waited." Everybody has waited for. Please
> consider, each pc or mac or linux user in the world needs an Office
> Suite. Libre Office is cheaper than MS Office, but offers nearly same
> functionality. Still it is only in the community. Maybe, there is a
> reason, but I would encourage users from all over.

Hmm...

I seem it's usual that "the community" includes "users" in FLOSS
world, so the phrase such as "...the community has waited" is not
only for us, but also for everyone.
I mean, it's a very important point to use LibreOffice; everyone can
Use LibreOffice, and can send request functional enhancements,
can report a bug, and can say their friends "hey I use LibreOffice
and it's awesome!"  Everything is contribution and everything is
free for users.
I believe the best way to use LibreOffice well is to make sense
users can grow LibreOffice itself.  It's a great right.

Of course it's a RIGHT but a MANDATORY.  I'm not a special
about marketing, but we might be able to change some words
for


> - I have seen on several occasions, that it is still called the Libre
> Office Project. Why? Libre Office just released version 4. This is a
> mature project and can be used without flaws. I would remove the
> project. "Project" sounds unfinished, not done yet, we are working on
> that, etc.

For me it's good knowledge about English.  I don't have such sense
about the word "project" (because English is my mother tongue).
Very common FLOSS already stable uses the word "project" such as:

Apache web server: http://httpd.apache.org/
GNOME: http://www.gnome.org/
Fedora: http://fedoraproject.org/en/

or many more.  But some others not use the word "project" such as:

Debian: http://www.debian.org/

And Firefox might be same (I can't see their English page in my
environment; but in Japanese page, they don't use the word "project."

In my feeling LibreOffice released stable "products" but still running
"project,"  Both words are correct.  It's a really marketing issue.


> - As you are trying to offer Libre Office for download and ask for
> developers on the same website, I believe, the community aspect is
> pretty strong for many visitors. And community aspect might give the
> impression to people, it is sloppy and not a good quality. Same as
> wikipedia: It is not really 100% accepted, because everybody can
> change it. That there is still a wonderful quality assurance system
> behind: Nobody sees. Libre Office might give in it's current form, the
> same impression. Why not separate the download of the stable version
> from the developer community.

In my understanding, we don't have a classic-style quality assurance
process; end users try a early-adopters version (currently 4.1.x) and
file bugs, then QA team care which should be fixed or not.  It's our QA
system.  (If I'm wrong please let me know).

Of course users can choose a stable version (currently 4.0.x).  But
why it became stable?  Because people use former "unstable" 4.0.x,
filed bugs, QA team triaged them, and developers fixed them.
It's our way.

I don't have a good idea to separate unstable one and stable one
with keeping current our QA process.


> - Focus on  two or three more strengths of LO over MSO besides being
> free - for example, you have a portable version. Isn't that great? How
> about setting the goal to build the first usable mobile word
> processor? Etc. Focus on features more, than on community and free
> aspect.

It's a really considerable comment.  LibreOffice is a very community
governed product so I don't know who can control such, but sounds
good to focus some our key features.

For example, LibreOffice portable is useful, but a little slow.  If it's
become much faster, it might be a our strength.


> - I do not know about your goals and your current numbers, so it is a
> bit hard to give more ideas, but I hope the above gives yo an idea.
> Maybe you could partner up with universities and schools, Android and
> MacOSX to promote it further. But maybe there are efforts as this
> already.

Agreed.  Someone already does, but in Japan, we need to do more :)



Thanks again Chris, and everyone read this long long mail :)


Regards,
-- 
Naruhiko Ogasawara (naruoga@gmail.com)

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