[Foresight-distro] Target Audience Part 2

[Paul Cutler]

Hi all, it's been just over a month since our last conversation around
Foresight's Target Audience wrapped up.  I hope in that time you've
thought about it a little bit more, and had time to settle some
thoughts.

With that said, I'd like to focus on a couple of comments from the
last email thread (email thread here:
http://lists.rpath.org/pipermail/foresight-distro/2008-July/000301.html
ending in August if you're reading the archives).

A couple of ground rules:

1.  We're not focused on the technical merits of Foresight at this time
2.  We continue to focus on "Windows switchers" as our target user.
(It's ok to exclude certain types of users.)
3.  We're focusing on the "user".  Who is he or she?
4.  What do we want to say to this user?  If you were at a conference,
what are your 3 speaking points to explain what Foresight is and why
he or she should use it?
5.  This discussion will start to lead us down a road, that will take
us to positioning in the marketplace and branding.  (Think of a new
user, what should their first impression of seeing Foresight and / or
it's website be?)

I'd like to quote some of the emails from the last email thread to get
the conversation started:

Cory K:

Let me just stress that at this stage the "tech" matters not. As I see
it's being mentions a good bit already.

What matters in the here and now is who we're talking to and what
Foresight wants to say.

What does Foresight want to be known for from it's audience of
"switchers"? Who are the switchers? It's a very broad group of people
that trying to cater to as a whole can really end up watering down a
direction.

For instance, a big-old shiny theme light appeal to the kids but adult
types might feel its too much. And then there's the even older folks who
can have a whole other opinion.

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:

By focusing on a particular group, others will always feel slighted.
Foresight *needs* to define who it specifically aims at because it's
crucial in defining it's own identity. Even at the cost of alienating
others.

Default means nothing for people who know linux. Defaults only matters
to Foresights target.

Peter Cannon:

...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.

Please share your thoughts!  Let me know if you have any questions.
This thread will be moderated, so please don't take offense at any
attempts to keep the discussion on topic.  I appreciate everyone's
feedback.

Paul