[Mageia-dev] Identifying Target Markets

[andré]

Marc Paré a écrit :
>
>> Targeting the school boards makes a lot of sense.
>> Note that Openoffice targeted various gov't organisations in France,
>> some of which ended up migrating to Mandriva as well. Maybe that could
>> work with school boards as well. I'm tempted to try something like that
>> with mine, in banlieue of Montréal.
>> Just out of curiosity, what is your school board ?
>>
>> For the server, if Mandriva management were a little more reasonable, it
>> would be good to partner with them. (I'd like to see something like
>> RedHat/Fedora.)
>> In any case, you can't go wrong with RedHat.
>>
>> André (andre999)
>>
>
> Bonjour André:
Salut Marc :
(sorry for the slow reply, didn't notice it right away)
>
> As an example, the official word from the Ontario Ministry of 
> Education is that if users cannot afford the use of MSOffice, that we 
> are allowed to promote the use of StarOffice. Here is the official 
> link: http://www.osapac.org/db/view_software.php?id=310  Sun had made 
> arrangements to provide support through their 1-800 ... telephone 
> service (unofficially, they had also said that they would have 
> supported OpenOffice user queries as well, although this policy may 
> have changed after this policy had been posted on the net). There are 
> over 2 million students being taught in Ontario where I teach. Quite a 
> good market to target. You can find the statistics on registered 
> school student numbers here: 
> http://www42.statcan.ca/smr08/2007/smr08_088_2007-eng.htm
Interesting contract.
I've read of similar approaches in France with OpenOffice or StarOffice, 
where they ended up installing (at least some) Mandriva workstations.
>
> If we were to commit to an "Education based" install (this could be 
> done at the point of installation where you could tag the type of 
> distro that you would want installed) with SOLID alternatives for the 
> most common software packages used in educational institutions, then 
> we could make a convincing case for the installation of Mageia 
> desktops in schools. Most governmental agencies today are sensitive to 
> ways of cutting down on expenses.
Selecting an "Education based" install (which could be used with other 
software selections is what I had in mind.
This could be called the "Education software group" (for want of a 
better name).
Like that you don't need a special "Education" version, it's the same 
DVD for everyone.
Of course, the necessary education software has to be on the DVD.
An excellent way to promote Mageia.
In fact, using a common DVD, students could take a copy home, and 
install as well, the "young family" and/or "home office" software 
groups.  (Which would necessarily overlap to some extent.)
>
> The only problem that I would see in doing such a promotion is that 
> this type of usage would require a server/client solution. This is 
> where the choice of server partnership would become important. RehHat 
> and Suse are well-known servers options in the business world. We 
> could then partner up with them and make sure that Mageia/RedHat or 
> Mageia/Suse solutions are rock solid. Unless we seek a partnership 
> with MandrivaLinux server, but in North American markets, Mandriva is 
> really not a force to contend with and is not really known.
>
> Marc
Since we're in Canada, Mageia/RedHat and Mageia/Suse make sense due to 
the greater North American presence, but Mandriva server is a major 
player in the European and South American markets.
The advantage of using Mandriva server in Canada is English/French in 
the education system in every province.
Like I've already said elsewhere, I'd like to see some accommodation 
with Mandriva for the commercial/server side.
In any case, we could always offer a choice of servers.  RedHat, Suse, 
and Mandriva all use compatible RPM packaging.

André (andre999)