RE: How to make Debian more attractive for users, was: Re: The number of popcon.debian.org-submissions is falling
Well, whille trying to convince people to use Debian instead of Ubuntu, Fedora or OpenSuse, I always encounter one of these two questions:
- If the user is inexperienced, they argue that Debian is "complicated to use". Perhaps this is due to a marketing campaign that other distros have claiming that is "Linux for human beings" and related.
- If the user is experienced, they argue that the libraries are somehow old compared to other distros, with cutting-edge software. Here it depends on individuals, since I prefer the solid-rock stability of Debian to the problem of upgrading systems regularly.
I hope this is of any use.
Sincerely, Adolfo
---
Department of Chemistry -- Surface Science Research Centre
University of Liverpool
Crown Street
Liverpool, L69 7ZD
United Kingdom
"Treat the Earth well. It was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children." (Ancient native American Indian proverb)
________________________________________
From: Will [ay1244@gmail.com]
Sent: 22 July 2010 01:12
To: Jesús M. Navarro
Cc: debian-devel@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: How to make Debian more attractive for users, was: Re: The number of popcon.debian.org-submissions is falling
2010/7/21 Jesús M. Navarro <jesus.navarro@undominio.net>:
> Hi, Hans:
>
> On Wednesday 21 July 2010 19:38:02 Hans-J. Ullrich wrote:
>> Hi community,
>>
>> well, I think, the main problem is, WHO are the persons, you want to
>> actiuvate.
>
> [...]
>
>> Group 4: People, who decide in business, which OS to use.
>
> [...]
>
>> Group 4: Business deciders are a big problem. They only see money!
>
> There's nothing inherently wrong with that, specially when Debian can help on
> this front too.
>
>> But I
>> think, if you want to convince them, then you need a web prensentation or a
>> presentation at all, who makes the idea of debian clear: save costs through
>> the work of a community , development will be guaranteed in the future, use
>> of real standards, more power for less money, no license problems and some
>> other things I forgot. For those people, a presentation should be developed
>> by people, who create professionell advertisements.
>
> That's an old rant of mine. Not exactly "colorful shiny brochures" but, yes,
> being able to make a discourse to reach their ears in a language that they
> are able to understand. On this, I think DPL can say and do a lot.
>
> I always asked myself (rethoric question, since I have my own answer) why is
> it the case that hardware and even proprietary software vendors (Dell, IBM,
> HP, Oracle, SAP...) don't use Debian as their base platform of choice given
> its obvious monetary and strategic advantages to them and go instead with,
> say, Red Hat or SUSE.
>
> With Debian there's no risk for them to be stabbed in the back if wind
> changes; there's no need for signing "early access" programs for them to know
> what will happen on the next release or going into a market tit-for-tat,
> heck, with only a little of fair play and time they can even have an obvious
> direct impact being the very driving force that makes Debian advance in the
> direction that better suits them (anyone can be a DD and anyone can make a
> difference with its own work; this is basically a meritocracy, after all)
> without need of dealing with CxOs of other companies with different agendas
> and even competing goals.
>
> With this in mind *why* IBM, Oracle, Dell... are not literally rushing for
> Debian -on the premise that *I* would benefit from that in the form of more
> man hours even for boring things, better hardware support or
> more "enterprise-grade" tools?
>
> My opinion is that happens because IBM, Oracle, Dell... big boys go playing
> golf with Red Hat or SUSE big guys but they don't know a Debian big boy to
> talk to and because of this they don't know the message Debian could bring to
> them (since they don't listen to "minions", they only listen to their pairs).
>
> That's where the DPL can help a lot: by acting to those big guys as one of
> them. Somehow in their minds, Ellison, Dell, Zacchiroli... should resound
> as "birds of a feather" as much as possible.
>
> Is Ubuntu any better platform for Oracle to run their Database or for Dell to
> certify their hardware than Debian? I don't think so. How is it then that
> they do with this relatively new kid in the block what they haven't done with
> Debian in more than a decade? My answer is that Ubuntu has a Shuttleworth to
> talk to them, face to face, in their same language but Debian do not.
>
> Cheers.
>
>
> --
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
> with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
> Archive: [🔎] 201007220158.50262.jesus.navarro@undominio.net">http://lists.debian.org/[🔎] 201007220158.50262.jesus.navarro@undominio.net
>
>
Also I imagine that it helps that they have some kind of commercial
support behind their projects, whereas Debian has little/none of that.
--
-Will Orr
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Archive: http://lists.debian.org/AANLkTi=FzLBd0dqBd-pVhYYVzK6mP-Pw-ju5WohMAO@mail.gmail.com
Reply to: