On Friday 24 January 2003 17:30, DJ wrote:
Kcic> I haven't caused enough trouble, today, so:
Kcic> Has anybody noticed how rare WOMEN are on this list?
I enjoy the content of this list tremendously and find it very educational. I try to contribute when I can. But, I'm sorry, this is a stupid question and imho is inappropriate for a technical list.
We are in the 21 century and for someone to even think this way is really depressing.
What, is ethnicity next? Argh!
Well, that's a point of view, I guess. But, a person who was not accustomed to bending over backward to find things about which to be offended... would have interpreted my observation differently. Allow me to translate: Linux-for-the-desktop, at least the way SuSE does it (I haven't really watched RH or Mandrake mailing lists enough to form an opinion about them) is obviously not yet addressing a major portion of the potential market. It happens, by the most elementary observation, to be ridiculously easy to identify that potential market segment. And, dagnabbit, me lads, she be female! Hiding from a fact of life is not a fruitful passtime, so maybe SuSE marketing droids should be giving some consideration to the notion. A radical and possibly profitable step might be to hire a non-geeky, female business-development manager. Someone who has some insight into the market segment they need to address. About half an hour after that happened, you'd hear an amazed chorus from the SuSE boardroom... something to the effect of: "Oh, THAT's what they meant by practical and easy to use!" "Gee, we should have had you around sooner!" :-) And by the way, a study of ethnicity might definitely open up some more target groups to which the product could be adapted and marketed. What, is ...... language next? Argh! Oh, wait. SuSE already addresses a bunch of languages. Could it be they do that because they have identified some specific market segments, for whom a particular and focussed product variant generates significant additional sales? Golly. Cheer up, it's Friday. /kevin