Re: [Marketing] Conference inspired marketing thoughts
John McCreesh wrote: On Wed, 2005-10-05 at 20:19 +1300, Ian Laurenson wrote: To me the focus of our marketing should be on the Open Document Format (ODF). I believe there are two distinct products to be marketed here. We are familiar with marketing OOo the product; one of the new features it has in 2.0 is support for OpenDoc. i think it is important that we all use one terminology. I heard OpenDoc, ODF (no legal valid abbreviation), ... But the exact name is "Open Document Format" and we should use always this full name. Otherwise people become confused and even other proprietary formats with maybe "Open" in their name can't be differentiated from the original format. Just my opinion Juergen There also needs to be a separate activity to market the OpenDoc format in its own right. The big selling point of OpenDoc is that it is a vendor neutral specification approved by the recognised standards body. The fact that it is currently only fully supported by one early adopter (OOo) is a disadvantage, but it's very early days yet. However, it's important that it isn't seen as an OOo 'thing'. To this end I would like it if the OpenOffice.org marketing project also included marketing of StarOffice including the Enterprise Edition. To me, for us to be able to do this we would need: [snip] I need convincing on this one. We make no secret of the fact that OOo and SO share the OOo codebase, so the fact that they both support OpenDoc isn't any great surprise :-) I'm also reluctant to tread on Sun marketing's toes - there's quite a bit of confusion out there about SO vs OOo already. I think it could be a good idea to form some teams that focus on marketing to different types of organisations, rather than just geographical regions. Teams could be formed for: [snipped some good stuff on markets] Agreed. The SMP has listed target markets http://ooosmp.homelinux.org/MarketSegmentation/TargetMarkets which I would suggest we stick to (or change the SMP). MarCons were initially set up for geographies, but with the intention that the same logic could be applied to target markets http://ooosmp.homelinux.org/GoalsandObjectives/MarketingProject. I agree that ideally they should be teams rather than named individuals. On the point about budgets - if we had a pot of money to spend now, what would you (or anyone else) suggest we spend it on - maybe worth starting a new thread? Some good stuff here Ian. John - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[Marketing] Marketing budget for what?
On Thu, 2005-10-06 at 19:06 +0100, John McCreesh wrote: > On the point about budgets - if we had a pot of money to spend now, what > would you (or anyone else) suggest we spend it on? In a word advertising: * Television (I don't watch it but I think I am a minority) * Radio * Newspapers * Magazines * Billboards * Picture theatres While travelling to and from Koper few of the people that I spoke with had even heard of OpenOffice.org yet all of them used Microsoft Word. Whether we would ever have a budget big enough for television advertising I don't know but some how we need to make the masses aware. Thanks, Ian -- Ian Laurenson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hillview - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Conference inspired marketing thoughts
On Thu, 2005-10-06 at 19:06 +0100, John McCreesh wrote: > On Wed, 2005-10-05 at 20:19 +1300, Ian Laurenson wrote: > > To me the focus of our marketing should be on the Open Document Format > > (ODF). > > I believe there are two distinct products to be marketed here. We are > familiar with marketing OOo the product; one of the new features it has > in 2.0 is support for OpenDoc. > > There also needs to be a separate activity to market the OpenDoc format > in its own right. The big selling point of OpenDoc is that it is a > vendor neutral specification approved by the recognised standards body. > The fact that it is currently only fully supported by one early adopter > (OOo) is a disadvantage, but it's very early days yet. However, it's > important that it isn't seen as an OOo 'thing'. > > > To this end I would like it if the OpenOffice.org marketing project also > > included marketing of StarOffice including the Enterprise Edition. To > > me, for us to be able to do this we would need: > > [snip] > I need convincing on this one. We make no secret of the fact that OOo > and SO share the OOo codebase, so the fact that they both support > OpenDoc isn't any great surprise :-) I'm also reluctant to tread on Sun > marketing's toes - there's quite a bit of confusion out there about SO > vs OOo already. > It is quite possible (probable?) that I am wrong but here is my rationale: As a Marcon a business may approach me about using OOo, but would like the level of support/stability that a large organisation can provide, and/or the automatic conversion of Excel macros. At this point I have become the point of contact for that company. To me it doesn't feel very professional to now say something like "You need StarOffice here is the URL". I would prefer to be able to show them some prepared documentation about the pros and cons of each suite for different situations and to be able to help them enter into a contract with Sun. > > I think it could be a good idea to form some teams that focus on > > marketing to different types of organisations, rather than just > > geographical regions. Teams could be formed for: > [snipped some good stuff on markets] > > Agreed. The SMP has listed target markets > http://ooosmp.homelinux.org/MarketSegmentation/TargetMarkets which I > would suggest we stick to (or change the SMP). MarCons were initially > set up for geographies, but with the intention that the same logic could > be applied to target markets > http://ooosmp.homelinux.org/GoalsandObjectives/MarketingProject. I agree > that ideally they should be teams rather than named individuals. > Thanks for these links I had forgotten that these pages existed. May respond more when I have digested them. > On the point about budgets - if we had a pot of money to spend now, what > would you (or anyone else) suggest we spend it on - maybe worth starting > a new thread? New thread started: "Marketing budget for what?" Thanks, Ian - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Thanks for a fabulous OOoConf
Louis Suarez-Potts wrote: > Hi all, > > > On Oct 6, 2005, at 6:05 AM, Graham Lauder wrote: > >> Jacqueline McNally wrote: >> >>> >>> I had this as an agenda item >>> (http://council.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg? >>> list=discuss&msgNo=674) >>> for the CC meeting: "4. next OOoCon: I suggest we announce the next >>> OOoCon now, and propose, following Jacqueline's lead, that we make it >>> Lyon.". >>> >>> >> Given that Asia is becoming a large market for OOo would it be >> reasonable to look at somewhere in that region for next year. >> >> Say Singapore for instance... > > The problem is that an OOoCon --that works must include the > developers that do the work, specifically those in Hamburg. They are > willing to travel, of course, but there are time and distance limits. > Sorry, but those are the facts. Heh, it would be good to take them outside their comfort zone for a while, Singapore is very accessible and very comfortable. :) > > That said, we can and *should* focus on a few key conferences to > showcase OOo, what it can do, and how it can help people, and see if > there are local developers willing to help out. In Singapore, Colin > Charles can probably help us, if his schedule allows, as well as > other community developers. I would suspect from the point of view of the corporate members ie: SUN, Novell and so on that an Asian Conf would be extremely valuable. Singapore is central to India, China, Australasia and Indo China and a very sophisticated market to boot Whether we look at it as an Eastern Conf or the main conf I think it is well worth consideration Cheers Yo -- Graham Lauder, OpenOffice.org MarCon (Marketing Contact) NZ http://marketing.openoffice.org/contacts.html INGOTs Assessor Trainer (International Grades in Office Technologies) www.theingots.org Blog: yorick.edublogs.org - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Thanks for a fabulous OOoConf
On Thu, 2005-10-06 at 19:34 +0100, Harris wrote: > I really think Singapore would be a good start. As being a Singaporean > myself, I trust the public support on new innovations. There are a few > annual computer events held in Singapore which attracts alot of people. > If we can hope the OOocon during one of these events together with other > marketing programme, I do see a chance to penetrate into the mass. Not > to forget about the larger amount of OEM retailers that set up their > booth during those events. They can also be the potential targets to > pre-install OOo into their systems. Language is not a problem since > majority of the Singapore can speak English (or I would say we are > bilingual). So it would probably be an easier start than plunge into > China straight on. Indonesia is also just close by and it would be good > to fly by indonesia for some 'official' promotion to the relevant > authority. Malaysia as well. Since my wife was born in Singapore, it would give us a good reason to visit so +1. Seriously there are good connections to Singapore from Europe, Australia and the Eastern Asian countries so its not a bad idea if not for the main conference at least for a regiCon. -- Ian Lynch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ZMSL - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Thanks for a fabulous OOoConf
Graham Lauder wrote: Jacqueline McNally wrote: I had this as an agenda item (http://council.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=discuss&msgNo=674) for the CC meeting: "4. next OOoCon: I suggest we announce the next OOoCon now, and propose, following Jacqueline's lead, that we make it Lyon.". Given that Asia is becoming a large market for OOo would it be reasonable to look at somewhere in that region for next year. Say Singapore for instance... I really think Singapore would be a good start. As being a Singaporean myself, I trust the public support on new innovations. There are a few annual computer events held in Singapore which attracts alot of people. If we can hope the OOocon during one of these events together with other marketing programme, I do see a chance to penetrate into the mass. Not to forget about the larger amount of OEM retailers that set up their booth during those events. They can also be the potential targets to pre-install OOo into their systems. Language is not a problem since majority of the Singapore can speak English (or I would say we are bilingual). So it would probably be an easier start than plunge into China straight on. Indonesia is also just close by and it would be good to fly by indonesia for some 'official' promotion to the relevant authority. Malaysia as well. Just my thought. - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Conference inspired marketing thoughts
On Wed, 2005-10-05 at 20:19 +1300, Ian Laurenson wrote: > To me the focus of our marketing should be on the Open Document Format > (ODF). I believe there are two distinct products to be marketed here. We are familiar with marketing OOo the product; one of the new features it has in 2.0 is support for OpenDoc. There also needs to be a separate activity to market the OpenDoc format in its own right. The big selling point of OpenDoc is that it is a vendor neutral specification approved by the recognised standards body. The fact that it is currently only fully supported by one early adopter (OOo) is a disadvantage, but it's very early days yet. However, it's important that it isn't seen as an OOo 'thing'. > To this end I would like it if the OpenOffice.org marketing project also > included marketing of StarOffice including the Enterprise Edition. To > me, for us to be able to do this we would need: [snip] I need convincing on this one. We make no secret of the fact that OOo and SO share the OOo codebase, so the fact that they both support OpenDoc isn't any great surprise :-) I'm also reluctant to tread on Sun marketing's toes - there's quite a bit of confusion out there about SO vs OOo already. > I think it could be a good idea to form some teams that focus on > marketing to different types of organisations, rather than just > geographical regions. Teams could be formed for: [snipped some good stuff on markets] Agreed. The SMP has listed target markets http://ooosmp.homelinux.org/MarketSegmentation/TargetMarkets which I would suggest we stick to (or change the SMP). MarCons were initially set up for geographies, but with the intention that the same logic could be applied to target markets http://ooosmp.homelinux.org/GoalsandObjectives/MarketingProject. I agree that ideally they should be teams rather than named individuals. On the point about budgets - if we had a pot of money to spend now, what would you (or anyone else) suggest we spend it on - maybe worth starting a new thread? Some good stuff here Ian. John - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Migrating to OpenOffice.org 90 per cent cheaper than to Microsoft Office 12
On Tue, 2005-10-04 at 20:52 +0100, Deepankar Datta wrote: > Try this article "Migrating to OpenOffice.org 90 per cent cheaper than > to Microsoft Office 12" - makes a good follow up to the Sun and Google > story > > http://computerworld.com.sg/ShowPage.aspx? > pagetype=2&articleid=2742&pubid=3&issueid=66 > http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/10/migrating-to-openofficeorg > -90-per-cent.html Great review - added to http://www.openoffice.org/product2/reviews.html (which may have been staticised as the update doesn't appear to be taking...) John - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Thanks for a fabulous OOoConf
Hi all, On Oct 6, 2005, at 6:05 AM, Graham Lauder wrote: Jacqueline McNally wrote: I had this as an agenda item (http://council.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg? list=discuss&msgNo=674) for the CC meeting: "4. next OOoCon: I suggest we announce the next OOoCon now, and propose, following Jacqueline's lead, that we make it Lyon.". Given that Asia is becoming a large market for OOo would it be reasonable to look at somewhere in that region for next year. Say Singapore for instance... The problem is that an OOoCon --that works must include the developers that do the work, specifically those in Hamburg. They are willing to travel, of course, but there are time and distance limits. Sorry, but those are the facts. That said, we can and *should* focus on a few key conferences to showcase OOo, what it can do, and how it can help people, and see if there are local developers willing to help out. In Singapore, Colin Charles can probably help us, if his schedule allows, as well as other community developers. Best Louis smime.p7s Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature
Re: [Marketing] Conference inspired marketing thoughts
Hi, On Oct 6, 2005, at 5:52 AM, Erwin Tenhumberg wrote: I think collaboration/co-marketing makes a lot of sense. I even could imagine doing some work together with KOffice, AbiWord and other projects that support OpenDocument. I have already contacted KOffice about this; not ABIWord: no contacts there. In previous years, I have discussed the desire of collaborating more with KOffice. The difference in our technologies prevented us (also license). But ODF is neutral. Best Louis smime.p7s Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature
Re: [Marketing] Thanks for a fabulous OOoConf
Jacqueline McNally wrote: > > I had this as an agenda item > (http://council.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=discuss&msgNo=674) > for the CC meeting: "4. next OOoCon: I suggest we announce the next > OOoCon now, and propose, following Jacqueline's lead, that we make it > Lyon.". > Given that Asia is becoming a large market for OOo would it be reasonable to look at somewhere in that region for next year. Say Singapore for instance... -- Graham Lauder, OpenOffice.org MarCon (Marketing Contact) NZ http://marketing.openoffice.org/contacts.html INGOTs Assessor Trainer (International Grades in Office Technologies) www.theingots.org Blog: yorick.edublogs.org - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Conference inspired marketing thoughts
I think collaboration/co-marketing makes a lot of sense. I even could imagine doing some work together with KOffice, AbiWord and other projects that support OpenDocument. Yes, on a feature level OpenOffice.org is competing with KOffice, but the success of OpenDocument is critical to both projects since OpenDocument can provide the credibility that we did not have in the past. Many of you probably have seen Sun's recent ads showing different people holding up a sign. We could come up with something similar showing all the people/projects/organizations supporting OpenDocument. Just and idea, Erwin Jacqueline McNally wrote: Hello Ian Thanks for all your thoughts - quite a brain dump :) It will take me a little while to think them through, as we already have in place much of what you suggested except for bringing to the fore your suggestion of promoting StarOffice and OpenOffice.org. The reason you give is important, i.e. SO and OOo are the first applications to support OpenDocument. We have a comparison table (v1.x) that includes SO vs OOo, and I know that Sun do have an updated one for the promotion of their SO8 product. I think it is important to be aware of other products, especially when you are in a consultancy role and providing professional advice. SO and OOo have previously participated in joint marketing, and it makes sense to better that in addition to further our joint marketing with other adopters of OpenDocument. What do others think of this and other issues that Ian (iannz) has raised ? Regards Jacqueline - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[Marketing] Friends of OpenOffice.org (FOOo)
Hello I am beginning to digest and act on some of the feedback from what is considered by many, the most successful OOoCon ever :) Also, it is nearly a year since I posted to this and other OOo lists about Friends of OpenOffice.org (FOOo). See: http://marketing.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=dev&msgNo=18223 If you browse this thread, you will see that the conversation developed from there. I think it is time we did something about FOOo by following up some of the comments from OOoCon and previous discussion about improved communication and assisting people to let others know what they are doing, i.e. how they are contributing to OpenOffice.org. Friends of OpenOffice.org are essentially advocates. If you look at page six in my presentation (http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2004/presentations/thursday/CDMarketing.pdf) you will see that an advocate is someone that is willing to encourage others to obtain OpenOffice.org, that is, strongly recommend. I would like to encourage and support our advocates or friends, and encourage other first time visitors and end-users of OpenOffice.org to take the steps to becoming an advocate. I have discussed a number of activities with you previously, but the one common thread is that we don't often know what you our friends are doing. Some of us have blogs, some subscribe to lists and discuss issues there, but I know if I want to find the best person to say tell me about mail merge for example, I hunt through archived mail and conference papers to try and remember the person I want to contact. To initiate FOOo, I would like to suggest that we begin to discuss it more on [EMAIL PROTECTED], but move the discussion to a new list so that new friends can join us and contribute their ideas. Also, there will be some more activities and tasks that will be posted here shortly as we lead up to the launch of 2.0. So it may get a little busy. As a first FOOo activity, I would like to invite friends to create a wiki page to let us know how they are using OpenOffice.org, if they are contributing to OpenOffice.org - where and how, and if they have assisted a friend or colleague, group or organisation to use OpenOffice.org, what were the difficulties and highlights of the experience. Secondly, collate or create information to assist people new to OpenOffice.org and other OSS to find and integrate the other applications they need on their computer. For example, assist people to find an alternative email programme, assist them to find support and help on these programmes by introducing them to other projects and communities. Be a friend and introduce them to other people :) All the best Jacqueline McNally Lead, OpenOffice.org Marketing Project - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Conference inspired marketing thoughts
Hello Ian Thanks for all your thoughts - quite a brain dump :) It will take me a little while to think them through, as we already have in place much of what you suggested except for bringing to the fore your suggestion of promoting StarOffice and OpenOffice.org. The reason you give is important, i.e. SO and OOo are the first applications to support OpenDocument. We have a comparison table (v1.x) that includes SO vs OOo, and I know that Sun do have an updated one for the promotion of their SO8 product. I think it is important to be aware of other products, especially when you are in a consultancy role and providing professional advice. SO and OOo have previously participated in joint marketing, and it makes sense to better that in addition to further our joint marketing with other adopters of OpenDocument. What do others think of this and other issues that Ian (iannz) has raised ? Regards Jacqueline - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Thanks for a fabulous OOoConf
John McCreesh wrote: I'd like to pass on the thanks of the entire OpenOffice.org community to the organisers of (in my opinion) the best-ever OOoConf. I wasn't there, but I would just like to say what I have said to some privately, that is, even from this distance, and yes Perth, Western Australia is a long way. I read, viewed and felt the success and up-beat spirit of the conference. I would like to be able to ride with that up to and through the launch of 2.0. So thankyou to the OOoCon 2005 organising team, but special thanks to Urska, Davide and Roberto, and the hosts and helpers in Koper - Capodistria. So, there are now two challenges for the Marketing Project: - make the launch of 2.0 the greatest ever - start thinking about how your team could host OOoConf 2006! I had this as an agenda item (http://council.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=discuss&msgNo=674) for the CC meeting: "4. next OOoCon: I suggest we announce the next OOoCon now, and propose, following Jacqueline's lead, that we make it Lyon.". We will need to follow the [EMAIL PROTECTED] list to see when the meeting minutes are posted, or otherwise poke some of the CC members that were present at the meeting. However, I would like to continue the discussion about the next OOoCon on [EMAIL PROTECTED], as it would be good to know soon where and when the next OpenOffice.org Conference is to be held. Thanks again to Urska, Davide, Roberto and all those that made OOoCon 2005 a great success. Regards Jacqueline - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] Good OpenOffice.org practices in Balkans
Thank you Görkem for your good news. Görkem Çetin wrote: [...] The pilot municipality in the project was Kardjali (www.kardjali.bg and http://kardjali.foss.bg). Kardjali is one of the 28 regional cities in Bulgaria. Located in the south of the country, and close to the border with Turkey and Greece, it has around 69,000 citizens, a mixture of Bulgarian and ethnic Turks. In the first two stages of the migration, the local government authority’s computers switched from Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer to OpenOffice.org and Mozilla Firefox. The link to ISOC-Bulgaria explained that the pilot programme was to run for 18 months. Does this mean that Kardjali has still some time to go, or is it complete? Now the project has been extended to Turkish municipalities. Some brief statistics: Total number of computers with OpenOffice.org working instead of MS Office: 200 Total number of employees trained on OpenOffice.org, Mozilla and Linux : 200 Percentage of staff satisfied with the trainings: 75 Percentage of staff saying that there is significant difference between MSO and OOo: 5 For your information. They are good numbers. Is there any anecdotal evidence for the 5% staff that considered there to be a significant differneces between MSO and OOo? For example, what areas or features they experienced difficulty with? Thanks again, and I saw that you have posted your news to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Regards Jacqueline - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] One Laptop per Child
Alexandro Colorado wrote: [...] There was a world forum panel where these project was discussed and they seem to target the world itself (from China to Brazil). You may be thinking of last year's WSIS. Here is an overview and podcast from someone that attended the MIT Technology Review Emerging Technology Conference last month: http://www.andycarvin.com/archives/2005/09/creating_the_10.html http://www.andycarvin.com/podcasts/negropontelaptop.mp3 (18Mb) Regards Jacqueline - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] spring IRC meetings
Kazunari Hirano wrote: Hi Jacqueline, I've got it :) So if you have a log, please let us know. Here you go: http://www.transwift.net/pukiwikiooopukiwiki/?ircmeeting20050908 I have attached the log "ircmeeting20050908.txt" to the page above. Please find the text file at the bottom of the page. Thanks, khirano Thank you. I have been playing with Gaim and have also changed computers, which is why I did not have a log. Will see how I go tonight. I'm using Gaim as much as I can as we provide it in addition to Xchat on the computers Computer Angels provides. Regards Jacqueline - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] San Jose Mercury News Article
Alexandro Colorado wrote: I guess that's the point of linguistics which are needed on this project. We really need people to put a factual but not intimidating message. [snip] Welll, you know the drill :) File an issue, if there isn't one already. Better still, find a linguist, or talk to the linguist that included the message. It would be interesting to know if it was as scarey in languages other than english. But these needs to go in the issue. But it is another example of people not having to think about file formats before now. It does appear to be more difficult for people that previously did not need to concern themselves with how or why they saved their documents. Regards Jacqueline - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [Marketing] San Jose Mercury News Article
Ian Lynch wrote: [...] I replied as follows Hi Dawn, "But these OpenOffice glitches are enough to deter one analyst who shares research with clients from using it on reports, for fear of circulating a flawed document. That's a major hurdle for Sun and Google to overcome." To be fair, the major hurdle is caused by Microsoft's proprietary file formats. Since MS do not publish all the details of how their files are structured its impossible to make 100% reliable translations of them in other software. This is why Open Document Format (ODF) is so important. The state of Massachusetts recently declared that in 2007 it would only accept documents in Open Document Format or pdf. Microsoft are free to adopt Open Document Format but have chosen to develop their own proprietary version for Office 12 and now say there is no customer demand for them to support the internationally agreed standard. Strange really since the European Union as well as Massachusetts stated that ODF is its preferred format. Rather large customers. MS is hoping that it can keep office document formats proprietary so that users like yourself will be locked into their products no matter how good and low cost the competition. It is in all customers' interests to insist that MS adopt and support the internationally agreed standard and then we can all choose our software tools on the basis of price and performance. If MS produce the best value software they have nothing to worry about. Thanks Ian. Your reply reinforced what I did send (see below) to Dawn in response to her request for an overview in preparation for her article. The article was about the time the Google and Sun press was popping all over the place, and I think the media did begin to feed off each other. Also, in situations like this, news people tend to want to be controversial and conflicting, rather than consensual. Regards Jacqueline ---///--- Hello Dawn Thank you for your enquiry. I have cc'd Louis Suarez-Potts, OpenOffice.org Community Manager and John McCreesh OpenOffice.org Marketing Project Co-Lead. Louis is based in Canada, and John in the UK. I am based in Western Australia. We work collaboratively such that enquiries such as yours may be answered promptly. Our product is called "OpenOffice.org", not OpenOffice. Please refer to OpenOffice.org in any potential articles. An OpenOffice.org 2.0 overview is available at: http://www.openoffice.org/product2/index.html New features are pictured and described on: http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/2.0/index.html and I have listed them below. The last item on the list is "Support, Services and Solutions". OpenOffice.org has always been well supported, but we wish to note that there is an increasing number of companies that offer products and services in and around OpenOffice.org. This list was compressed to the following description in our previous press release for 2.0 Beta, see: http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=announce&msgNo=252. "OpenOffice.org 2.0 introduces a new database module, implements the OASIS OpenDocument XML file format and a myriad of other new features and capabilities. The redesigned interface and enhanced document filters combine to make the application even more interoperable with other office suites and easier to use and learn, regardless of operating system." The most compelling feature is the implementation of the Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) OASIS Standard - an open standard for saving and exchanging wordprocessing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. OpenDocument has been endorsed by industry and government, the most recent by Massachusetts as the first state to formally adopt a policy supporting OpenDocument. I have also copied our boilerplate below. Louis and John were at OOoCon2005 last week in Koper - Capiodestria, Slovenia (http://marketing.openoffice.org/conference/ and http://ooocon.kiberpipa.org/). They may have an up-to-date figure for the number of languages. I thought I heard 50 or 60 from one of the conference videos. Please update the boilerplate with the figure that Louis or John comes back with. Please accept my apologies, but I was not at the conference last week and a lot happened then and is happening :) We are talking about the upcoming OpenOffice.org 2.0. Which version to download? We are currently making available what is called a release candidate, i.e. a version that potentially could become the 2.0 release. If issues are found with a release candidate, then these are resolved, and another release candidate is produced. 2.0 rc1 is currently available. Follow the "OpenOffice.org 2.0 Release Candidate" link on our homepage (www.openoffice.org). The reason why I have not provided you with a direct link, is that when we have a second release candidate or final release, the direct links will change. But you will often be able to find your way from http://download.openoffice.org/ too. Thanks again for
Re: [Marketing] spring IRC meetings
Hello Bernhard, * Bernhard Dippold wrote: Hi, "Jacqueline McNally" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hello I would like to call our second MP meeting for tomorrow, Thursday 6 September at 1300 UTC. I'd really like to come, but I have to work this night and must sleep sometime :-( You too :) [...] Don't worry if you cannot get to this meeting. I'm sure there will be logs and summaries, and there will always be next week :) That's nearly like Koper: not being there is not being there - despite all possibilities to get the topics... I could not travel at the time, so I did not get to Koper either :( But I have been receiving private email, links to photographs, list mail, and of course the marvellous OOoCon2005 media site has provided much enjoyment. All the best Jacqueline McNally Lead, OpenOffice.org Marketing Project -- OOo in Slovenia OpenOffice.org Conference 2005 28th - 30th September, Koper - Capodistria, Slovenia If you missed being there - http://ooocon.kiberpipa.org/ - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
