[Mageia-dev] Identifying Target Markets

Fri Oct 1 05:13:27 CEST 2010

Graham Lauder a écrit :
+> On Friday 01 Oct 2010 02:04:26 Marc Paré wrote:
+>    
+>> Le 2010-09-30 07:21, Graham Lauder a écrit :
+>>      
+>>> A group of the marketing and communication peoples got together to get
+>>> our heads around Vision and  Mission Statement.  Everyone brainstormed
+>>> what they saw as the core values of Mageia to give a direction that the
+>>> Projects Vision and mission statement could head.
+>>>
+>>> The reasoning behind this is it points a figurative arrow at our  primary
+>>> target market and thus gives us a guide toward where our branding should
+>>> be aimed.
+>>>
+>>> A mistake that is often made is branding from an internal aesthetic when
+>>> in fact branding should be more aimed externally to attract a new
+>>> demographic. If the gods are in alignment then ideally it should point
+>>> toward our principle point of difference and again this influences our
+>>> branding choices in terms of Colour Pallet Logo and so forth.
+>>>
+>>> The "feel" to me that came from the brainstorming was that Mageia could
+>>> be marketed as the "Family Distro".   This being a principle point of
+>>> difference when a user makes a decision as to what operating system to
+>>> run.
+>>>
+>>> Our principle competitor, MS competes against the Linux universe as a
+>>> whole but other distros compete for the MS user base aimed at particular
+>>> Demographics. For instance:
+>>> OpenSUSE aims at the "Power User" Market
+>>> Ubuntu aims at the young individual end of the market
+>>> CentOS at Community enterprise and Not For Profits
+>>> Fedora at the Computing Professional
+>>>
+>>> Mageia could therefore aim at the Young Married professional market,
+>>> being the Distro that could be installed on the home computer and geared
+>>> so that the whole family could use it.
+>>>        
+This seems to be an excellent target market.  The relative ease-of-use 
+of Mandriva should have been targeted here.  In the past, without 
+realising it, I've targeted such users myself for Mandriva.  And Mageia 
+has the advantage of not being tied to a commercial market.
+>>> So for instance as well as the standard software, educational programmes
+>>> would be installed by default, be NetSafe (Dans Guardian), have OOo4Kids
+>>> installed as well as a full office suite, Tuxtype, TuxPaint and so on.
+>>>        
+Such applications don't have to be installed by default.  They just have 
+to be available on the installation DVD, with a selectable Educational 
+group of applications, much like the Internet and Server groups 
+available on existing Mandriva DVD's.  It could even be called "Young 
+Family".
+
+Note that in the past (at least about 10 years ago), RedHat CD's had 
+many selectable installation groups, many of which overlapped.  So using 
+this approach, there could be groups called "Educational", "Young 
+Family", and "Home Office", for example, all containing the 
+go-openoffice office suite, among other applications.
+I believe that the current Mandriva DVD doesn't have any overlap between 
+installation groups.
+
+>>> Documentation added to show parents how to set up accounts for the kids
+>>> and how to make it Net safe.
+>>>
+>>> I think that this is an untapped market right now and something that the
+>>> project could leverage into a marketing campaign and guide us in terms of
+>>> branding.
+>>>
+>>> Comments?
+>>>        
+I think you are right on the mark.
+>>> Cheers
+>>> GL
+>>>        
+>> I think that if you target the software packages that are compatible
+>> with Educational software advocated by educational organizations, we
+>> could make quite large inroads in the adaptability of Mageia.For
+>> example, when marketing the OS, emphasis on the distro that can carry
+>> your kids through their educational paths with such packages as
+>> OpenOffice (soon to be LibreOffice -- make sure the MSWorks plug-in is
+>> also included) compatible with MSOffice; GIMP similar to Photoshop and
+>> some plugins are compatible; Freemind mindmapping; etc. If Mageia
+>> concentrated on making these software packages work solidly then you
+>> could have a good run at competing with other linux distros in the
+>> educational field.
+>>      
+> Indeed, that's why I suggest OOo4Kids.  The go-oo.org version is pretty much
+> essential right now because of it's GoogleDocs/Zoho integration.  Schools are
+> using the cloud as an educational tool more and more.
+>
+>    
+>> BTW, in Canada, many school boards still use the Novel Netware setups
+>> and they are just now in the midst of planning out its replacement. My
+>> school board for example will have to replace close to 10,000 units if
+>> they were to move to a Linux setup. I sat in on a meeting about 5 years
+>> ago to hear out a RehHat re-seller's pitch. Most school boards are
+>> almost at the break point and will be actively looking for new
+>> networking/desktop solutions.
+>>      
+Mageia to the rescue :)
+> Common all over the world and if the school can see that the software used at
+> school is as friendly on the home computer...
+>    
+The big plus : no extra cost for exactly what is used at school.
+>> So, compatibility with educational software. The distro should also be
+>> an easy install for everyone and GUI run. If we are going to make it and
+>> contend with other distros, the majority of users want a GUI run install
+>> where everything works right away. There should be as little fiddling
+>> around as possible. Install (15-20 minutes), then, register user
+>> accounts, shares for accounts, re-name the computer to instill a sense
+>> of ownership to the user (rather than having your computer called
+>> "localhost" all the time, and then you are done! (Cups and 3d should be
+>> installed automatically during the install phase). Make the install as
+>> easy as possible.
+>>      
+15-20 minutes is probably a bit short; realistically Microsoft takes an 
+hour to install.
+In the current Mandriva, during installation one can do all that.  
+However, what is needed is a friendlier GUI, and much better help/info 
+along the way.
+(For help/info on install, Ubuntu is much better than Mandriva.  But 
+please, Ubuntu's ugly brown theme is depressing.)
+Cups is installed by default if there is a printer connected.
+
+3D should probably be an option, as it requires a lot of horsepower.  On 
+a netbook, for example, it would be extremely slow.  Currently, 3D 
+doesn't work properly under Linux on certain brands of computers, like 
+Toshiba.
+And most games for young children wouldn't use it anyway.
+(Really useful for the teenage and young adult gamer market, though.  
+But they'll probably have their own computer.)
+Easy to install is indeed an important point.
+> When I started using Linux (Mandrake was my first distro and the reason I
+> abandoned Windows) MCC to me, a nongeek, was the killer app.  OpenSuSE's Yast
+> is/was the only real competition.  The ability to administer everything from a
+> GUI is killer for the Ex-windows user.
+>    
+MCC is part of the reason why I originally switched to Mandriva from RedHat.
+Actually I like the fact that more info is available under Linux.
+> The next is a distro with games and solid multi-player game setups that
+> work. Get the distro to play nice with WOW and other popular games. This
+> will kill the competition and grab kids attention. Have a Mageia games
+> advocate(s) who periodically send out "snazzy" e-newsletters and a
+> "Magei Games Korner" on the website to foster gamesmanship on the
+> distro. Get the kids talking about the "rock-solid" install of WOW (for
+> example) using Wine -- the distro should come "hard wired" to play! and
+> rock!
+>    
+That would be a big plus going after the teenage game market.  M$ seems 
+to own it now.
+That could evolve from a focus on the family market.  The fact that 
+Linux natively networks is a plus.
+> The critical thing about aiming at a family market is that you are not aiming
+> at Kids.  The target in this market is Mum, she is the power here, the rest of
+> the family follow along meekly.
+>    
+Or enthusiastically, if Mageia is packaged right.  True.
+>    
+>> Have a great advocacy group that will stand up to Mageia bashing and
+>> hand out comparative studies on the distro's performance and keep the
+>> name in the headlines with such sites as LinuxToday.com. Be proactive
+>> rather reactive to Linux possibilities of use where it can rationalized
+>> as a good replacement desktop distro.
+>>      
+Sound a bit like M$ "studies" that prove that black is white.  But if it 
+works ...
+Didn't Mandriva promote itself as the desktop distro a while back ?
+Reminds me that a company that does commercial support for Linux here in 
+Canada recently won a lawsuit against the Québec (provincial) govt for 
+considering only a Microsoft solution.  So next time they have to take 
+Linux into consideration.
+> What we have to do is replace the Linux=Ubuntu with Mageia instead of Windows.
+> Linux has already been sold to those who fill the market that needs to know
+> about that, let Ubuntu have that space.  What I would like to see is a
+> decision making process that goes Windows or Mac or Mageia.
+>    
+One way to combat Linux=Ubuntu is to have "Linux" in our logo.
+>
+>> Cheers
+>>
+>> Marc
+>>      
+> Cheers
+> GL
+>    
+- André (andre999)
+