[Foresight-devel] Re: Target Audience

Tue Jul 29 12:00:29 EDT 2008

On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 10:27 PM, Ken VanDine <ken at vandine.org> wrote:

> I am always glad to collect ideas for how things can be improved, but
> this isn't the point of this email thread.  The goal here is to
> collect ideas around branding and how we want to be betrayed to our
> target audience.  This is a complex thing to really identify and
> articulate.   Please help us articulate how we want to be branded, the
> rest will follow.
>
> Thanks,
> --Ken
>

This is how I think we should portray ourselves:

We are a user friendly linux distribution which focuses on an intuitive user
interface and ease of use while allowing advance possibilities for those
power users.

This statement won't pidgeon hole us into the belief that we are only a
linux distro for new users, where you can't do any 'serious' work with it.
That is a similiar idea that was held about Ubuntu for the longest period.
We want to portray ourselves as a distro that is friendly to new user and at
the same time friendly to developers and power users.

>
>
> e.  This also includes a discussion of what we like
> about Foresight, and what we don't, or needs to be improved to get us
> to our goal.
>
> Please add your thoughts to the wiki page.  If the page does get
> off-topic, I will start a parking lot section, and move ideas there as
> well if they don't pertain to the discussion.
>
> Please share your thoughts, everyone is welcome!  Especially for those
> of us who use and develop Foresight every day, I want to make sure we
> have a wide range of ideas, to avoid the forest for the trees
> syndrome.
>
> On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 6:52 PM, James Laver <james.laver at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > On 28/7/08 20:07, "Cory K." <coryisatm at nc.rr.com> wrote:
> >> Would it be safe to say "switchers" are 3 groups of people?
> >>
> >>     * teens->30's
> >>     * 30's->50's
> >>     * 50's on?
> >>
> >> These sets of people can be very different and isn't black and white.
> >> There are gray areas. But this is what happens when you're trying to
> >> cater to such a broad category of people. Ultimately, it might need to
> >> be narrowed to exclude some people.
> >>
> >> -Cory K.
> >
> >
> > I roughly agree with your categorisation. With that, I have some notes to
> > add.
> >
> > The first and second groups are likely to be switching of their own
> accord,
> > whereas the latter is likely (to take the case of ken's mother), be
> switched
> > by a relative who will have to support their computer.
> >
> > The latter case is perhaps a more appropriate candidate for a mac mini,
> but
> > lets gloss over that.
> >
> > Let's say switchers want it to work like windows. Assuming we're not
> trying
> > to do a Linspire (gosh, can't we just call it Lindows like it was
> before?)
> > and actually replicate windows in linux, let's say these are the
> important
> > things:
> >
> > It must be really easy to use:
> > - To setup - okay, this is quite easy, we have a 'zap everything' option.
> In
> > the third case, the relative will be doing it anyway. Check.
> > - To login - Check.
> > - To launch an application - The difference is that the gnome foot is a
> > different icon and is at the top of the screen. Perhaps we should move
> the
> > default to the bottom and have only one bar like people are used to. No,
> > don't quote off the gnome lists at me, I'm aware I'm inducing hatred.
> Apart
> > from that it's quite easy. - FIXME?
> > - To browse the web - Can we have an icon called 'Internet' on the
> desktop.
> > Not 'firefox', not 'epiphany', 'Internet'. FIXME.
> >  - To setup adsl -  Automatic. Check.
> > -To email - I don't rate evolution at all. I've had serious troubles
> trying
> > to persuade it not to be unusable with IMAP. It's always been the second
> > most frequent thing I have to kill (the first being firefox - it seems to
> be
> > quite unstable beyond 40 tabs) - FIXME
> >  - To setup an email account - No more convoluted than Outlook Express I
> > suppose, but evolution is quite convoluted. - FIXME?
> >  - To launch the client. Let's have an 'Email' icon on the desktop. FIXME
> > - Install software - Packagekit sucks. Lets be honest. Advanced users can
> be
> > fine with conary but they aren't the target audience. Fix packagekit or
> find
> > a replacement. FIXME
> > - Update the system - See packagekit rant. FIXME
> > - Produce documents/spreadsheets etc. - Openoffice.org isn't all that
> bad.
> > Check.
> >
> > Here are differences perhaps we should concentrate on:
> >
> > - Different artwork can be confusing. Tango icons go some way to
> alleviate
> > this, but the Gnome Foot is not exactly intuitive. FIXME?
> > - Installing software is just not remotely the windows model. We need to
> > find a way to make packagekit more obvious to the user but not irritate
> the
> > hell out of them. This should also be disable-able because some of us
> aren't
> > new converts and find such things annoying. An interesting thing to think
> > about is that the over-50s probably don't want to be installing software
> > anyway, and the youngins probably want software available for windows. I
> > suggest we take an approach of software solving problems. I'll flesh this
> > out below. FIXME
> >
> > Here are other things we need to consider for other environments:
> > - Interoperability in the office:
> >  - MS Office - Largely fine. Nothing we can otherwise do. Check.
> >  - Windows networking. Ridiculously complex. What can we do? FIXME.
> >  - Working with company email:
> >    - POP/IMAP/SMTP - Fine. Check.
> >    - Exchange - Largely fine. Check.
> >    - Domino/Notes - Completely doesn't work. What can we do? FIXME.
> >  - Custom applications. Can't do a lot about these. There are certain
> > exceptions like visio doesn't do too badly with dia etc., but on the
> whole
> > there's nothing we can do about it other than package adequate
> work-withs.
> > Sorta-Fixme.
> >
> >
> > Software solving problems:
> > - I need to produce a picture - GIMP. Okay, it's installed, fine.
> > - I need to stave off boredom - <list of games>. Okay, installing, fine.
> > - I need to produce a UML diagram - Dia. Okay, installing, fine.
> > Etc.
> >
> > This is a fundamentally different workflow from the default. It's worth
> > considering, however.
> >
> > Let me know what you think.
> > --James
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Foresight-devel mailing list
> > Foresight-devel at lists.rpath.org
> > http://lists.rpath.org/mailman/listinfo/foresight-devel
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Ken VanDine
> http://ken.vandine.org
> _______________________________________________
> Foresight-devel mailing list
> Foresight-devel at lists.rpath.org
> http://lists.rpath.org/mailman/listinfo/foresight-devel
>

-- 
specialKevin
Kevin Harriss
http://www.foresightlinux.org