Marketing Message for Calligra

[Cyrille Berger Skott]

On Thursday 22 December 2011, Inge Wallin wrote:
> On Thursday, December 22, 2011 17:47:54 Cyrille Berger Skott wrote:
> > You can make all the fun you want of LibreOffice attempt to port to
> > Android, but if you go outside of the Calligra community, people perceive
> > us as the people who have been trying for 14 years to deliver an office
> > suite for the desktop. And now, we will start bragging to be leading on
> > the free office suite market for mobile, and if you scratch under the
> > surface, you will discover that we are positionned on a dead tiny
> > fraction of that market.
> 
> I haven't exactly made fun of it. If you think so you have misunderstood. 
> My point, instead, is that LibreOffice has issued a press release saying
> they will start porting to Android (note: 'will start'. Not 'have done').
> They have in fact *nothing* to show here and if anybody runs the risk of
> being known to not deliver on these platforms it's them.
> 
> But still it worked for them insofar as that journalists and bloggers
> parrotted this press release. Some real buzz was created around LibreOffice
> on Android. If we don't tell people that we have done more already and
> will do more still then we can never push Calligra to the front.

Yes, but you see, there is a huge difference between making a press release 
that say "Calligra is leading the way to free software office application to 
mobile devices with the Harmattan Office" and describing Calligra as the leader 
of free office on mobile device.
 
> > Merging an other email, since it is on the same topic:
> > > I know it's sometimes laughable, but the reason people do it is because
> > > it *works*.  All marketing textbooks say "you need to find a niche
> > > where you are the leader and then tell everybody about it".
> > 
> > I am also hoping that every marketing textbook start by telling you to
> > define who is your target. And to adjust your message for them.
> > 
> > Assuming our marketing target is geeky technical people, who know and
> > follow open source project. Those people get suspicious with excessive
> > "bragging", and while they know of the N9xx Maemo/Meego, they also know
> > it is a very niche stillborn market. And will go and think, yeahyeah,
> > they are the leader of nothing (and if they know from where Calligra
> > comes from, they will think that people never change).
> > 
> > Worse, if our target is outside of that group, chance is that they don't
> > know much about "free software", or meego and the N9. All they know is
> > iphone and the cheap version of iphone (some of them know that it is
> > called android). For them "the leading free office suite for mobile",
> > free will translate to 0€, "mobile" translate to iOS or Android, and
> > since it is available to neither, we are just liars.
> 
> I have two answers to this:
> 
> 1. I thought our target user group were students and academics.  At least
> that's what I read from many of the maintainers and the Words manifesto. So
> it makes sense that our marketing should target the same group. I am
> pretty sure that this group knows the difference between iOS and Android.
> But I don't think that the majority of the students are aware of the
> history with KOffice. To them Calligra is something new and hopefully
> exciting.
> 
> It is not unlikely that this group running LibreOffice or OOo already.

<off-topic>Honestly ? I think the accademic world is very far behind on that. 
Especially since, Microsoft is giving away MSO to students, and Universities 
provides MSO licenses to its staff. You rarely see anything else than 
windows/powerpoint or macbook/keynote in conferences/lectures. And the true 
geeks would use beamer. Which btw, means that if we provides a windows office 
suite that is as cool and easy as iwork, we will get a lot of users ;)</off-
topic>

More on topic, accademic people are even more suspicious to the use of strong 
word like "we are leader" and "we have the absolute answer to the essential 
question of the universe".

> And
> frankly, getting them to switch to Calligra on their home computer or
> laptop is going to be very difficult. But it's not unlikely that they also
> have a tablet that they can use during lectures or in other places. 
> Telling them about Calligra and how it works well on tablets and handheld
> devices is going to make a few of them try it out and hopefully like it. 
> It is more likely that they will test the leader of free office apps than
> something they have never heard about so it makes sense to take that
> position.

Not really, they would be more interested in the "easiest to use office suite on 
tablet". Or the one that offer "the most compatibile with .doc/.xls/.ppt". And 
they won't care if it is free software. If they are students, only that it 
comes with no charge ;)

-- 
Cyrille Berger Skott