[Kde-events] Re: KDE in top 1.5%

[Jonathan Singer]

=46rom: Mark Bucciarelli <mark@easymailings.com>


>I figured.  How do you picture this events toolkit?  And how would you=20
>want to deal with money issues; for example, if the kit included
>  - t-shirts for sale, or
>  - brochures that were mailed to you, or
>  - brochures you printed yourself (on high-quality paper=20
>     using a high-quality color ink-jet), or=20
>  - business cards for you, or
>  - KDE 3 CD's for sale?


=46irst, about money: I already paid over $100 to travel to LWE and most of=
 the others there also had hotel bills. If worst comes to worst, paying an=
 extra $20 to print brochures isn't out of the question. T-shirts and CDs=
 are another issue.

Next, what I would have liked to have had in a kit is:

* Brochures -- OK, I'll do this one myself, as soon as the documentation=
 rush for 3.0 ends in a couple of weeks. Andreas, can you send me (or=
 better, provide a URL) the existing file? Also, do you have connections at=
 any of the KDE League member companies who could get their marketing people=
 to provide a little pro bono feedback on it?=20

* Image files for posters -- This is a one time project. Artists, can you=
 make a few options that exhibitors can download and print?

* Image files for T-shirts -- This probably already exists.

* Demo tools -- I've never done a demo before and things like sample scripts=
 and kpresenter screenshows would have been helpful. Also nice would be a=
 couple of eye-catching themes. Come to think of it, maybe the best thing is=
 to make a tarball of a $KDEHOME directory that's flashy and demonstrates=
 useful KDE features. If you're the kind of person who submits screenshots=
 of your desktop to theme sites, consider this.

* CD's -- This sounds great, but is difficult in practice. It's expensive=
 (Ximian was _selling_ boxed sets for $40, IIRC), needs to be continuously=
 updated and what would you put on it? My sense is that the typical Windows=
 user knows that when you go to a booth, they give you a CD that you go home=
 and run on Windows. Trying to explain to them, "We make software and other=
 people distribute it. You already have KDE or you can go to the Red Hat or=
 Mandrake booth and get a CD from them. If we gave you something, it=
 probably wouldn't work on your system anyway." just confuses them ("I don't=
 understand. Don't you make Linux?") but it's still true.

Note that none of this is a KDE-Zine type deal -- it needs to be done once=
 and sporadically reviewed. The key things are 1) to do it and 2) to put it=
 someplace convenient.

=46inally, regarding the KDE League: Andreas -- it should be clear now that=
 there's a serious problem with the League's perception in the KDE=
 community. Unfortunately, not telling people about anything you're doing is=
 indistinguishable from doing nothing. I know about your work in organizing=
 the KDE booth and media interviews and everyone knows about the Microsoft=
 settlement comment. But beyond that, you seem to be expecting people to=
 take on faith that all sorts of important secret stuff is being done and=
 they're not going to.

If it were simply a matter of you doing things on your own time, than it's=
 no one else's concern. But you've set yourselves up as the leaders of KDE=
 promotion and have traded on KDE's name to collect money from companies,=
 and if you want to occupy that position you need to maintain your credibili=
ty.