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Re: Designing a retail package for the Official CD



Bruce,

I just have a couple of points on this.  First, since all
donations, etc from CD sales go to SPI, wouldn't it make sense to
have SPI produce the official CD images and retail package instead
of the Debian project?  For some of the reasons you've mentioned
in this thread, Debian should remain focused on producing a well
integrated operating system, which is a primarily technical and
organizational task.  SPI could take care of the marketing of its
(Debian's) retail product irrespective of the developer community.

Second, could you perhaps try and plan on using environmentally
friednly packaging, or at least target a package that does and
encourage the guys that actually produce the physical units to do
so?  Since SPI is not for profit, I think the minimal extra effort
and minimal extra cost (if any) should be considered.  Plastic
inserts to protect the CD could be replaced with an earth friendly
material, I'm sure.  I realize that you have no intention of
producing the physical units yourself, but I think if _you_ say
"paper bound book with plastic CD insert", that's what everyone will
produce.

Cheers,

On Fri, 27 Feb 98 17:09 PST, bruce@pixar.com wrote:

> We've been doing really well with the Official CD, going by the
> donations page. I think it's time to take it farther. For 2.0,
> it will probably be a 3-CD set. What I would like to do is
> provide a complete retail package for the 2.1 Official CD.  This
> should include:
> 
> 1. Color box art, including hardware requirements, features,
> screen shots, etc.  
> 2. Color CD Jacket art.  
> 3. CD label art.
> 4. Printed installation manual and "what to do now that you've
> installed it" manual.
> 
> This would, of course, be distributed as PostScript files, etc.,
> for use by manufacturers.
> 
> To best accomodate the small-run manufacturers, I think the
> format we should first build for is a looseleaf binder of 8 1/2
> by 11 or A4-size, with the CDs inserted into a plastic sheet in
> the notebook and the front and back covers inserted into the
> notebook cover. We have notebooks here that allow you to insert
> pages into the covers, I have no idea what they are called.
> Notebook thickness can be up to 3 inch. This gives you a package
> that can be assembled out of components from the office supply
> store and duplication on a copying machine.
> 
> Secondary to this, we should do the standard-sized software box
> for use on a retail rack. This would probably be a re-lay-out of
> the covers, as some material would go to the box sides. The
> printed manual would probably be a simple reduction from the
> large format, but this is something that people can handle
> better given the document source.
> 
> Terms would be the same as the 1.3 Official 2-CD Set. The CD
> images must be a bit-for-bit copy of what we distribute. The
> box, label, and cover artwork and our printed manual are
> optional (although they can only be used with the Official CDs),
> but the manual also exists on the CD.  You are allowed to make
> "extras" CDs containing any content and put them in the package,
> but their label must indicate that they are supplemental to the
> Official Debian CDs. You're allowed to add your own books, or
> shrink wrap the package with other merchandise.
> 
> What I'm trying for here is a set of files that you can download
> and give to your printer and the CD house, and have a complete
> retail package come back, ready to be shipped to customers or
> stores. We have ample proof from the history of the Official CD
> that if we build this, people will sell it.
> 
>         Thanks
> 
>         Bruce


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