[Mageia-dev] Identifying Target Markets

[andré]

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)