[libreoffice-website] LibO registration page -- gone?

I have just been informed that the registration page has been removed 
from LibO. All it took was on bug report to have it removed.

Did I miss something? I don't remember a good and deep debate about 
this. Removing the registration page, in my opinion, is short-sighted.

From the standpoint of marketing and market penetration, we need some 
data to work with. We cannot just work blindly without knowing where our 
LibO users reside. Not only that, a registration page will allow a user 
the opportunity to register as a member of the community. This is where 
we can make a difference in letting user know that there are team at 
work for LibO and that joining is a possibility for all. It is a form of 
soft-push publicity.

I know that the registration page is seen as a nuisance for some, but I 
think that in our present circumstances, we will have to compete with 
the numbers game with OOo where they will trumpet their 300 million 
downloads and registered 100 million users ... data that they can use. 
Whereas now, all that we can trumpet from our data is the downloads data 
and a very bad guess as to where LibO users reside.

If large organisations are complaining about the registration page in 
large installations, then there should be feature where you disable the 
registration page for large installation.

It also boils down to the TDF/LibO philosophy behind LibO.

* Is it a membership office suite that members use for their own 
purposes? In this model the view is that we, the members, have created 
an office suite for our own use, others may use it, but it is defined by 
what we want. Branding and usage is really not a big priority as the 
suite is built on the premise of popularity and internal use.

OR

* Is it an office suite developed by a group of members belonging to the 
TDF/LibO group? In this model the office suite is a software package 
being developed by the TDF/LibO member for all people who use office 
suites. The group is interested in developing a brand and penetrating 
markets in order to popularize the brand. Marketing and product QA is 
central to the product and the membership work at popularizing the brand 
for the public at large. The collection of data then is also of great 
importance for branding and product penetration strategies.

In my opinion the decision to remove the registration page should be 
revisited and debated in a more serious way.

Marc


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