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Re: Marketing Summary


From: Markus Hitter
Subject: Re: Marketing Summary
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 21:01:38 +0200


Am 29.09.2004 um 18:12 schrieb Dennis Leeuw:

To just give an example, that has been confusing me: There are -make, -base, -back and -gui. But also GORM and ProjectCenter. So there are "libs" and apps... which is weird. I mean if you have a development environment with apps you should have the things in place that make the apps work

What makes you feel these apps do _not_ work?

e.g. an integrated window manager and the like.

While an integrated window manager, if properly designed, surely could enhance the workflow, it would be a big step back if you would _require_ one.

For the foreseeable future, GNUstep apps should work fine with the native environment as well as with other, non-GNUstep apps, side by side. AFAI can see, this is already the case.


Even on a tightly integrated OS like Mac OS X, there is no Cocoa API requiring the Finder. The Finder is the app making the visible part of what you could call the "workspace". You can stop the Finder and the other apps continue to work.

The window manager is yet another, mostly independent part of the environment.

This doesn't mean, these parts can't communicate with each other. If both parts want to communicate, they can. Usually trough some well defined protocol. On OS X, this is AppleScript. For GNUstep, Distributed Objects might be a good choice.


So, finally, creating an "integrated window manager" and an "GNUstep desktop environment" means to make those pieces react to some GNUstep specific communication. Still, apps should be able to work without this communication as should do the desktop environment.


1a- Define where the project has it's strong points (compared to the others)

True objective runtime, clear API design, portability -> high productivity.

Well, then there's Cocoa compatibility ...


2- Define the target group

Developers. Hobbyists as well as professionals.

End users requiring custom made applications.


Regarding "mainstream" end users, I don't see a chance to catch up with other, visibility-centric environments like Windows, OS X, KDE or GNOME in the foreseeable future.

None the less, you could demonstrate how to enhance user experience in other environments using a GNUstep written window manager or GNUstep written apps, for example. Or, how much better you can drag & drop between GNUstep apps.

This could become a win-win-win situation. Developers see how great GNUstep works, users can enhance their workflow and GNUstep potentially wins members.


3- Make a list of ways to target the target group and always answer the "What is in it for me"-question for the target group.

One way surely would be to offer a home for GNUstep written apps. This enhances visibility and makes communication to the project maintainers easier.

If they want to transfer copyright to the FSF, why not?



Markus

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Dipl. Ing. Markus Hitter
http://www.jump-ing.de/







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