On 2 June 2011 16:42, Gozarks <goza...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hello again... and thank you (everyone) for keeping this whole > conversation so open and dynamic. As I have been listening, one key > question has evolved for me: Where do I fit in? This because, as > previously noted, I am not a coder... my expertise is marketing... and > I got involved with OOo because I LOVE the applications, am a devout > proponent of 'openness' (in comminication, self-governance, etc.), and > I genuinely appreciate worthwhile opportunities to contribute what I > know in the hopes of somehow 'making the world a better place'. > > That said, and Bernhard having raised the topic of OOo's "large area > of non-coding community," in context of Simon's encouragement that > non-coders who feel they have been significant conributors to OOo > should feel welcome to request inclusion in the Apache incubator > project, please allow me to share the following: > > For starters, I do not consider myself a 'significant contributor' to > OOo, however (and I say this with utmost respect), it seems to me that > this is more of a 'glitch' (or a 'bug' if you will) in 'the management > system' that has been operational in OOo. > > About which I rush to add that I do not see this as the 'fault' of any > one person or group of people but more like a natural and (to some > degree) necessary part of the process of organizational growth and > community development, that may (once identified) be corrected and > improved... much the same way y'all engineer 'patches' to fix bugs in > programs. > > In this regard I would respectfully suggest that the 'bug' I see is > that while OOo has a comprehensive 'marketing' community, as I am > aware of things the vast majority of the folks who are involved with > and make critical decisions about such projects as graphic design, > news release authoring, website design (user interface) and the > development of promotional strategy are not and have never worked as > professionals in any of these fields. > > That is, as I am aware (and please correct me if I am wrong) most of > the folks who are doing this 'marketing' work have vast professional > expertise in coding and the complexities of sophisticated > technological engineering, yet they are 'trying' to do a job > (marketing) which requires an equally sophisticated yet substantively > different set of 'complex engineering skills' and thus things which > should (in terms of state-of-the-art marketing practice) be routinely > done are unknown, trivialized or overlooked. > > And again respectfully, I find this especially true in terms of the > OOo marketing community's (lack of?) a comprehensive plan to > 'outreach' to the non-coding 'end users' of the programs. That is, > every nuance of marketing (promotional materials, conferences, news > releases) that I have been aware of over these past several years has > been dedicated to and focused on 'coders'... which I personally see as > a major glitch because it represents to me a 'disconnect' between the > folks who are 'creating the tool' and the folks who are 'using the > tool' to do work... (even though ALL of you use OOo 'to do work', > respectfully, none of us are 'typical end users'. > > And my major concern about this is that over the long haul the > 'product' will no longer 'meet the needs' of the typical consumer. > > But then hey, like I said, I do not see myself as a significant > contributer to OOo. Just offering a personal perspective... (((hugs))) > ~Christine >
Hi Christine, I think it is more complicated. John Mcreesh constructed a very detailed marketing plan - some would say overly so. Some marketing volunteers were technically savvy but by no means all. Some had qualifications/experience in marketing others none. Some marketing initiatives worked well with no budgets others didn't. I understand the point that over-focus on code can lose sight of the fact that the code is not much use if no-one uses it. My own quest has been to try and find a sustainable business model that could generate resources for marketing because at the time there was resource from Sun for developers but not for marketing. Things change. Under Apache I don't see that the situation for resources for marketing will be a lot different. -- Ian Ofqual Accredited IT Qualifications The Schools ITQ www.theINGOTs.org +44 (0)1827 305940 You have received this email from the following company: The Learning Machine Limited, Reg Office, 36 Ashby Road, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B79 8AQ. Reg No: 05560797, Registered in England and Wales. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to dev-unsubscr...@marketing.openoffice.org For additional commands send email to sy...@marketing.openoffice.org with Subject: help
