Hi, first of all I would like to thanks Charles for his presence and for his good words.
We are very happy about the Charles visit because we had the opportunity to discuss on several points concerning NL activities other than spending some good time together. Even if Bolzano is a small town quite far from biggest ones like Milan and Rome, the event was a success. As the region is quite sensitive to Free Software several people attended the event and we hope to have contribute to the OOo adoption. Unfortunately this year I can't attend the OOoConf so I hope to see all of you the next year. Ciao Davide Charles-H. Schulz wrote: > Hi, > > Obviously, Louis is not the only one to travel here ;-) I thought I > would post something on the 4th National conference of OpenOffice.org in > Italy. > This year the conference was taking place in Bolzano, a very nice city > lost in the Alps south of Tyrol. It was a charming place, the kind that > transforms you in a cookie monster as there is so much to eat and the > place looks so comfortable and welcoming. But I digress. > > This year's convention was divided into two. The morning was the time > for a general track while the afternoon allowed for more technical > presentations. In my view as a guest, I have to say that I am impressed > by how well the Italian project manages itself, its growth and its > public image in Italy. I am also impressed by the actual numbers, and > I'll get down to this below. Let me thank everybody at PLIO, especially > Davide Dozza and Italo Vignoli. Italo is incidently running a PR agency, > and this is where things become very interesting. > > The Italian native-language project has been embarking a few years ago > into a sustained and deeply thoughtout of its communication strategy. > The objective was obvious: spread the word about OOo, and in turn, grow > OOo's market share. > It seems this strategy has been working beyond expectations. The core of > this strategy, as I came to realize it, relies on a constant > communication an connection with the press and the media in general. It > requires know-how, time and dedication. It also requires some good > contacts and a real network of journalists. They have slowly but surely > been building the image and the reputation of the PLIO and through the > association the image of OpenOffice.org. Today, even Microsoft is making > sure to be careful with them, and has even sent two of its > representatives to the conference. PLIO strategy has also been to go out > in the open and to talk to the media and real people. This is in my view > key to their success: they went out of what is traditionally conceived > as "the community" and communicated with the broader public and the IT > world. > > The numbers speak for themselves: I don't recall the exact numbers; but > if you think that there has been around 5 million PCs sold this year in > Italy, then you can match that number with around 4 million downloads of > OpenOffice.org in the same time. Of course, those numbers aren't > necessarily connected has insisted Italo; but as I said afterwards, > those downloads have to go somewhere. We witness the same trend in Italy > and elsewhere; it is now time, I think, that we focus on spreading the > word about it. > > Italo, Davide, feel free to fill in the blanks about the conference. > > Best, > > Charles-H. Schulz. > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >
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