[Foresight-distro] Re: [foresight-mktg] Re: [Foresight-devel] Re: Target Audience

[Peter Cannon]

On Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:58:29 -0500, "Kevin Harriss"
<specialkevin at foresightlinux.org> wrote:

Hi I've edited this to try and get some context to what you are saying, I
hope you don't mind?

> My statement was meant to be taken, if it wasn't my bad on poor wording, 

Don't worry "Been there, got the tee shirt and DVD"

> as saying we should be focusing/targeting novice users but yet still
acknowledge that power users aren't overlooked. 

Not really, Foresight should be targeting users period! Don't get hung up
on 'labels' such as novice, power user sysadmin blah blah blah. You should
be promoting; 

1. What its for.
2. What it can do.
3. What benefits there are over other distributions (Including Windows and
Mac)

Then comes the sub-benefits (in deliberate order) 

I. Ease of use.
II. User experience (I.e. the joy of using it, um say Compiz bling ect).
III. Support/Community (Mailing lists, IRC ect)("Hey come and have a beer
and a chat").
IV. Ease of install.

> I worry that if we only focus on the novice users we might be losing a
chance at a valuable pool of intermediate to advanced users. 

This is a dilemma, if you talk 'up front' about "Any fool can use it" then
some power users may say "Ah that's not for me" IMO "I don't want you
either" because generally in my experience people with that attitude make
simple problems more complicated just to promote how clever they are. Of
course it goes without saying if you focus on power users then it may scare
off Joe Bloggs who was thinking of giving Foresight a go.

I'd suggest its promote in a generalized way "Something for everybody"
springs to mind something like:

"The default install will give most users the applications and tools most
commonly used in today's computer environments. While some of the
applications may seem unfamiliar most, if not all, will perform the same
tasks and functions you may have been used too with other operating systems
allowing everyone to enjoy the benefits of this exciting software with
little or no problem. In most cases it will be as simple as filling in some
information such as your email account details or a user name and password.

One Foresights strengths is its ability to 'grow with the user' as you're
experience grows you may wish to enhance your system with more advanced
services and tools, Foresight is able to meet the challenges of today's
home and business requirements by providing you with easy to install
packages allowing full customization of your system from a standard
computer to a fully fledged Server."

I could go on but I bet you're getting bored?

(this is my second attempt at sending, is there some weird method unlike
normal "reply to list"?)

-- 
Regards
Peter Cannon
http://www.cannon-linux.co.uk
IRC: dick_turpin

"There is every excuse for not knowing, There is no excuse for not asking"