Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 19:29:30 -0700 (PDT) From: Brian McGroarty <bvmcg@yahoo.com> To: freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Marketing / Alternate packaging Message-ID: <19990808022930.19708.rocketmail@web1003.mail.yahoo.com>
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For what it's worth, if you -can- get Michelle Pfeiffer to model a latex daemon suit for the catalog, I strongly suggest you do. Breasts can sell anything. Shiny red latex body suits start religions. Releasing -pro, -server, -workstation, etc bundles is exciting for those already running FreeBSD, but carries little extra marketing value for a consumer seeing the package for the first time. UnknownX-Pro, UnknownX-PowerPack, UnknownX-Server. Flash is less important than a raw bargain for established users, so I'll leave suggestions on what to include to people who know far better than I. As an aside, it's criminal that McKusick's course tapes aren't available through the FreeBSD mall. They're expensive, but I've got a couple already, and these are -invaluable- for someone really wanting to learn the OS. I'd also suggest the new O'Reilly MySQL book, Design and Implementation of BSD 4.4 and Jolitz's existing and upcoming books. Seeing a range of documentation available is reassuring. Back to the previous - I'm particularly interested in how to produce a package which is attractive to someone who's never seen FreeBSD and is coming from Linux or more conventional OS backgrounds. For this, the packaging needs to promise that: o The user will not fight a battle to get the OS going. The inclusion the handbook is a huge plus here. I've seen editions with and without the man pages in back, effectively doubling the size of the book: an installation book should be thin and unintimidating. o The user will be able to do everything with FreeBSD that they can do with their existing OS. Screen shots of koffice, gimp, Netscape, kdevelop and kicq speak volumes more than a bullet list. o The user will be able to do something exciting and new. Show FreeBSD TV, a music package, large letters declaring that the user can "Run your own secure FTP server" "Share internet access across multiple PCs" "Includes WWW Server" "All source included!" o Promise that the user can do something new or differently with FreeBSD and FreeBSD -only-. I'd really love to see everyone's input on this point. See my next post. --- "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@zippy.cdrom.com> wrote: > it in so many ways? In terms of CD products there's the 6 CD > FreeBSD > toolkit, the 4 CD base product and the occasional developer's > 2 CD > snapshot. In terms of "other" items, we have FreeBSD > stickers, case > plate icons, T-shirts in various sizes and colors, polo > shirts, denim > jackets, baseball caps, mousepads (new), stainless steel > "starbucks > style" coffee mugs (new), stuffed daemon plushes (various > sizes), and > one FreeBSD book. Not all of these items are practical for > most > channel partners, of course, I list them merely for > completeness's > sake. > > The only "bundle" we currently offer is the book+base > product+toolkit, > known as the "FreeBSD Power Pak" (I'm not in love with that > name but > have no truly better suggestions to offer the sales department > so I > can't really complain, either), the rough appearance of which > can be > seen at http://www.freebsdmall.com/software/#bsdpak (though > the box is > somewhat more substantial than its image indicates). Long > planned but > not yet done is some sort of "desktop pro" bundle with > Applixware for > FreeBSD (done) and at least one other thing to round it out. > Some > desktop product which just hasn't been ported or written yet, > perhaps, > or a book on using FreeBSD especially on the desktop, listing > what > sorts of applications to get and whatever other nifty bits of > information might be germin to the desktop user, that would > complete > the bundle for us. Even more nebulous is the "Server pro" > bundle, one > of the original components being an SSL capable web server > which has > now been somewhat overshadowed by its freeware counterparts > and making > it less desirable as a cost item. That leaves us with a very > empty > plate for the Server Pro bundle at the moment. :) > > We're also not total yutzs ourselves, it should be pointed > out, and > we're now into retail channels like Ingram and CompUSA, with > plans to > expand much more aggressively into Japan and China than we > have > previously (not to mention Europe). While I can't disclose > actual > sales figures, I can say that the graph is still climbing > nicely and > there have been quite a few PowerPak sitings at major chain > stores now > that we finally got into the large channels. Perhaps we can > reap the > benefits of being a fairly unique product amongst the sea of > Linux > products one typically finds there, and perhaps with the aid > of your > WELCOME ideas in the areas of packaging, imagerly and > advertising we > can do even better. You've gotten my attention and I'm all > ears, the > sincerity of that statement hopefully born out by the level of > detail > I've taken pains to include in this message. > > - Jordan > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message > > _____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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