I vote for Joel as Omnipotent Message Autocrat. Man, this is the most
fun we've had around here in a while.
Joel, I agree a lot with your points. A whole lot. I'll add to your
list some other things, but that's a useless quibble. I also think the
"OS X Tiger" codename thing could pay off, but it's not the central
issue at this point. We need to identify Zope 3's raison d'etre and
talk more about it (IMO), which you started below.
On the whole...anybody providing that Chuck Norris link should
immediately be elevated to the executive suites.
--Paul
Joel Moxley wrote:
The Zope Foundation, which is probably coming pretty darn soon, might
help catalyze contributors a bit. It will own the zope3.org domain,
the zope.org domain, and probably lots more, and all of the software.
But before or after the foundation, I think small steps are more
likely to succeed than grand plans. Someone writing an impressive
brochure-ware site about Zope 3 is going to be easier and more
impressive than trying to get folks to agree on a grand Zope 3
software site. Someone assembling some of the word-smithing in this
thread might even generate a simple impressive advocacy *page* that
could be linked to from the front of zope.org. I thought Joel's post
had some ring to it, for instance. Whether or not we have a "Zope 3:
Rebel Angel" rename :-), it would be great to see Joel or Martin or
someone step up to put some advocacy out there. If I can help with
trying to figure out who to ask for what, let me know.
As I see it, Zope 3's central marketing issue is the lack of a
coherent online identity. There needs to be a single place that
answers the following questions:
1) What is Zope 3?
2) Why use Zope 3?
3) How does Zope 3 compare to competing frameworks?
4) How do I get started?
Largely, this is assembly of the Zope 3 FrontPage, philikon's first
two chapters, and the "appetizer" quick start guides on worldcookery.
However, I would also love to see a section on the lead developers
answering Q1-Q3. And this would be in conjunction with conveying...
Zope3's shtick: Zope3 is not flashy. Zope3 does not put pastel
colors on its website. Zope3 is the no-nonsense, industrial strength
platform. It's where you come when you want to do it right. It was
coded with the most rigorous standards by a bunch of hard-nosed sons
of bitches who don't have time for froofy marketing :). And so forth.
This would come across in lead dev's answering Q1-Q3.
And finally, the site should demonstrate the "industrial strength"
quality with examples. Little snippets from developers of SchoolTool,
corporate users, and so forth should demonstrate "hey, we're for real,
and we don't mess around -- you give me an animated screenshots, I
raise you a XYZ transaction per day uber site". In a sense, we'd want
to portray ourselves as the Chuck Norris[1] of web platforms :)
Bottom line, a coherent online identity would go a long way. Instead
of doing some snazzy marketings, let's communicate the character that
Zope3 does have. It sounds like zope3.org under ZF might be the ideal
way to do this,
As for codenames, this is just one way we could help create a coherent
online identity. I certainly think release names would be fun (and
not distracting to the central "Zope 3" brand we'd want). Overall, I
think the time has come for communication of Zope 3 identity to move
hand in hand with development.
Joel
[1] For those not familiar with Chuck Norris, he's a no-nonsense
martial arts guy and the subject of these very amusing "facts".
http://www.4q.cc/chuck/index.php?topthirty
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