On Sun, Sep 12, 2010 at 11:04 PM, Charles Wight <charles.wight@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello Vincent, Jos, All
I think my point has been a little misunderstood, undoubtedly due to my curt style.
No Novell = No OpenSUSE ... it's a Novell product! The folks writing the code (or at least the lion's share of it) are PAID to do so by Novell. To think of OpenSUSE as ANYTHING other than a Novell product strikes me as naive. This is not an issue of perception; it's an OBVIOUS REALITY!
I do not wish to describe this reality as good, bad, fuzzy, or even purple .... it just is!
It's probably bad for folks trying to sell SLED/SLES in the USA, which I wrote as, "and in the USA, that's NOT good!"
The OpenSUSE project/product/gizmo/community/social widget/thingy is not in and of itself a money maker for Novell, but it is important in terms of getting the attention of IT folks. In part, it is a marketing tool. Novell (and Red Hat) are hoping that the "community" approach will get them some free labor and free advertising, hence lowering marketing costs. This is the game!
As a user of OpenSUSE, I benefit; I get a free OS (although I actually paid for SuSE back in the day and would gladly do so again). Remember the manifesto, "free as in freedom, not free beer"!
I am simply expressing an opinion: OpenSUSE is loosing market share and mind share to Ubuntu and Fedora because the quality is declining! It's NOT a marketing issue. It doesn't matter how cute the gecko is
But to me, image is important. Visual connection is a great silent marketing tool. Yes, if Novell choses to put money into different areas to better the "quality" of openSUSE, I am sure that a more professional and friendly look into it will be necessary. ... or how
flowery the "strategy" drafts are written ... or how good the "feel good" social widget feels .... I think it's a quality issue!
I am participating in this forum ONLY because of my disappointment with the last several releases. I, perhaps mistakenly, have taken the community buzz at face value. I have read numerous conversations here and on the forums that indirectly address competing with Ubuntu and Fedora in terms of marketing and strategy.
Rarely have I seen discussion about the simple fact that OpenSUSE is uncompetitive in several areas that are important.
To become more competitive, OpenSUSE must reallocate resources into specific areas, which means other areas will loose resources. That means the discussion needs to be, "What do we drop?" and "Where do we put the focus?"
Discussions along the lines of "who are we", "defining OpenSUSE", etc. seem vacuous. At the end of the day, it's a matter of where the money goes .... Novell's money!
SuSE made inroads into the US market because it was a high quality product that developed a good reputation among IT folk like me. I don't really care if it's community driven or not ... I want a high quality os ...
Have fun!
cwight ------------------------------------ written from my FC13 box, my blackberry broke! -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org
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