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Posted to dev@openoffice.apache.org by Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org> on 2014/01/07 17:02:04 UTC
Looking forward to 250 million users
So we reached the 85 million download mark. Yea! 100 million will be
here soon. Even if we never have another release we will reach 100
million sometime in the next few months. It doesn't require much
effort. Inertia will do it. We have a solid application, translated
into many languages, available on all major operating systems. We
have a popular brand name and user satisfaction as well. 100 million
will not require much effort at all.
So let's set a bigger target for ourselves. How about 250 million, a
nice round number? To get there will require more than just the
status quo. It will require more than just repeating ourselves.
What kinds of things would we need to do to reach that kind of goal?
1. Additional translations, especially for large language communities
like Hindi, Malay, Telugu and Persian.
2. A leap forward in product quality and performance
3. Nailing Microsoft interoperability, across binary and XML formats
4. Working well out-of-the-box on all platforms, meaning code signing
on Windows and Mac and repository installs on Linux.
5. Something extra, something unique. We need to be more than just
gratis and libre. There needs to be a reason to use OpenOffice even
if you already had Microsoft Office.
Any ideas?
-Rob
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Re: Looking forward to 250 million users
Posted by Vladislav Stevanovic <st...@gmail.com>.
>5. Something extra, something unique. We need to be more than just
>gratis and libre. There needs to be a reason to use OpenOffice even
>if you already had Microsoft Office.
>Any ideas?
I am not an programmer, but I am an old user who using OOo (and now AOO) a
lot.
>From that perspective, users want to see that that AOO is stable, fast
application, and user want to see good maintains (improvements, patches).
So, if you want to make success with AOO for long period, let make AOOreally
fast and stable app.
1. What about 3000 patches in LO? How many patches we applied in AOO, even
small? What about small improvements?
2. For business: AOO must have solution that user can easily create XML
flat file, and zipped (as option), without any other files in that zipped
file (from Calc and Basic), with UTF8 option. To do this now, for
non-programmers, it is nightmare.
3. Speed up AOO.
4. Base. Instead existed data base, can we have MariaDB as default, for
example? That will be so powerful!
5. Python. It would be great to fully integrate this language, to have
IDEfor that language, because, as I can see, Basic macro language has
problem
about maintains. Basic is past, Python is a future.
6. Writer. We must have solution for easy creating templates.
7. We have old site. I think that people can not see how many progress are
done for about two years. Also, marketing is a big thing in any project.
8. There is a big space for improving organisation for developers. For
example: it would be nice to see some experienced programer how lead and
organize new developers for easy tasks, small patches in one group,
Regards,
wlada
2014/1/7 Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>
> So we reached the 85 million download mark. Yea! 100 million will be
> here soon. Even if we never have another release we will reach 100
> million sometime in the next few months. It doesn't require much
> effort. Inertia will do it. We have a solid application, translated
> into many languages, available on all major operating systems. We
> have a popular brand name and user satisfaction as well. 100 million
> will not require much effort at all.
>
> So let's set a bigger target for ourselves. How about 250 million, a
> nice round number? To get there will require more than just the
> status quo. It will require more than just repeating ourselves.
>
> What kinds of things would we need to do to reach that kind of goal?
>
> 1. Additional translations, especially for large language communities
> like Hindi, Malay, Telugu and Persian.
>
> 2. A leap forward in product quality and performance
>
> 3. Nailing Microsoft interoperability, across binary and XML formats
>
> 4. Working well out-of-the-box on all platforms, meaning code signing
> on Windows and Mac and repository installs on Linux.
>
> 5. Something extra, something unique. We need to be more than just
> gratis and libre. There needs to be a reason to use OpenOffice even
> if you already had Microsoft Office.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> -Rob
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscribe@openoffice.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help@openoffice.apache.org
>
>
Re: Looking forward to 250 million users
Posted by Vladislav Stevanovic <st...@gmail.com>.
> How do we triple the number of users of AOO?
Promoting AOO is job for people from marketing area. It is simple. We just
need some money for that.
Regards,
Wlada
2014/1/12 Guy Waterval <wa...@gmail.com>
> Hi Nancy,
>
> 2014/1/12 Nancy K <na...@yahoo.com>
>
> > I want to throw out an idea that might bring in new users. The open
> source
> > android market and dependence on mobile technology are quickly increasing
> > in the number of users. Why not have a mobile version Open Office suite
> > ready for all android devices?
>
>
> Great idea !
>
> I can't help but think of all of the PC's that are bought with MS programs
> > already installed - and the people that are less technically inclined
> never
> > change browsers or programs - especially if it will cost money to
> upgrade.
> > If a device is produced with OpenOffice already in place, especially if
> it
> > is optimized for mobile users - I think that would certainly introduce
> this
> > software to a growing audience.
> >
>
> You can always turn the disadvantage into an advantage and benefit from the
> popularity of Windows machines to promote the use of AOO via usb stick
> without any installation. MS does the marketing effort and you reuse it to
> spread your product, the life is nice! The portable version of AOO has a
> big advantage : for the first time , you are not the challenger, but the
> leader, you suggest a new approach for using an office suite, directly from
> the keyring, near the keys to your car, which is impossible to do with MS
> products. In addition you can create a fad effect if you use a special key
> , tube of lipstick for women, pocket knife, for men, etc. Why always want
> to install software on a computer? If PC manufacturers do not want to
> preinstall AOO, why not to suggest the manufacturers of babies's pacifiers
> to do it for them ;-)
> For the top class secretaries, you can find the following, for instance :
>
> https://www.google.com/search?q=cl%C3%A9s+usb+rouge+%C3%A0+l%C3%A8vres&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=h1rSUsqtCMPmywPekoLABA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=775
> In addition , this creates the show and can calm the paranoid who is afraid
> of being spied on by the Net. I noticed that many MS users are more
> surprised by this kind of use than with the fact that AOO is gratis. And
> moreover, no need to configure something, you can provide an "all in one
> solution", with documentation, important extensions and templates
> preinstalled, more simple for new users who have some trouble with
> configurations.
> Only my opinion, of course.
>
> >
> > I am trying to think of ways that Open Office could be more mobile, and
> so
> > far:
> > 1. Voice to text could be utilized
> >
>
> +1, certainly an advantage
>
> 2. Cloud storage for easier access between devices including mobile to PC
> >
>
> Not necessary an advantage by this time. In some countries, people are
> actually recommended not to use the cloud solutions.
>
> A+
> --
> gw
>
> >
> >
> >
>
Re: Looking forward to 250 million users
Posted by Guy Waterval <wa...@gmail.com>.
Hi Nancy,
2014/1/12 Nancy K <na...@yahoo.com>
> I want to throw out an idea that might bring in new users. The open source
> android market and dependence on mobile technology are quickly increasing
> in the number of users. Why not have a mobile version Open Office suite
> ready for all android devices?
Great idea !
I can't help but think of all of the PC's that are bought with MS programs
> already installed - and the people that are less technically inclined never
> change browsers or programs - especially if it will cost money to upgrade.
> If a device is produced with OpenOffice already in place, especially if it
> is optimized for mobile users - I think that would certainly introduce this
> software to a growing audience.
>
You can always turn the disadvantage into an advantage and benefit from the
popularity of Windows machines to promote the use of AOO via usb stick
without any installation. MS does the marketing effort and you reuse it to
spread your product, the life is nice! The portable version of AOO has a
big advantage : for the first time , you are not the challenger, but the
leader, you suggest a new approach for using an office suite, directly from
the keyring, near the keys to your car, which is impossible to do with MS
products. In addition you can create a fad effect if you use a special key
, tube of lipstick for women, pocket knife, for men, etc. Why always want
to install software on a computer? If PC manufacturers do not want to
preinstall AOO, why not to suggest the manufacturers of babies's pacifiers
to do it for them ;-)
For the top class secretaries, you can find the following, for instance :
https://www.google.com/search?q=cl%C3%A9s+usb+rouge+%C3%A0+l%C3%A8vres&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=h1rSUsqtCMPmywPekoLABA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=775
In addition , this creates the show and can calm the paranoid who is afraid
of being spied on by the Net. I noticed that many MS users are more
surprised by this kind of use than with the fact that AOO is gratis. And
moreover, no need to configure something, you can provide an "all in one
solution", with documentation, important extensions and templates
preinstalled, more simple for new users who have some trouble with
configurations.
Only my opinion, of course.
>
> I am trying to think of ways that Open Office could be more mobile, and so
> far:
> 1. Voice to text could be utilized
>
+1, certainly an advantage
2. Cloud storage for easier access between devices including mobile to PC
>
Not necessary an advantage by this time. In some countries, people are
actually recommended not to use the cloud solutions.
A+
--
gw
>
>
>
Re: Looking forward to 250 million users
Posted by Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>.
On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 7:10 PM, Nancy K <na...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I want to throw out an idea that might bring in new users. The open source android market and dependence on mobile technology are quickly increasing in the number of users. Why not have a mobile version Open Office suite ready for all android devices? I can't help but think of all of the PC's that are bought with MS programs already installed - and the people that are less technically inclined never change browsers or programs - especially if it will cost money to upgrade. If a device is produced with OpenOffice already in place, especially if it is optimized for mobile users - I think that would certainly introduce this software to a growing audience.
>
> I am trying to think of ways that Open Office could be more mobile, and so far:
> 1. Voice to text could be utilized
> 2. Cloud storage for easier access between devices including mobile to PC
> 3. Slick interface that is easy to read, not a tiny version of the desktop format - but designed specifically for mobile usability
>
> I started researching what android office suites are being used and came across a 2013 article by PC Magazine http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2419589,00.asp
> The 5 best android office suites they mention do not look that great - except maybe polaris office (the first example on their slide show: http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l=311949&a=311948&po=1,00.asp )
>
> I also came across AlwaysOnPC that does use OpenOffice http://www.alwaysonpc.com/aboutOpenOffice.php
>
> The more I research, I see that all of the above are in place, just not all of them easily found without research and many in more than one 3rd party product not tied together - which most people will not do unless they are looking for a specific answer to a problem. Does this seem like a productive direction? I am still thinking about ways to help Open Office grow, and this was my first thought.
>
The trend certainly has been PC sales declining and tablets
increasing. If you look at what is out there now, you'll see some
bundling already. For example, even though Android is open source,
Google's influence is very strong. They acquired a company called
QuickOffice a couple of years ago, and they have an Android office
suite. It comes pre-installed on some devices, like the Nexus 7.
Apple has their iWork apps. Microsoft has their Office 365.
What isn't clear is whether QuickOffice ends up on all "Google
Experience" Android devices, or only some of them. There may be
opportunity for other device manufacturers, like Sony, HTC, Samsung,
etc. to use OpenOffice, if they want to differentiate their products
beyond Google's design.
Now, with bundling on PCs and laptops, this does happen. We get
requests from some smaller hardware vendors asking for permission to
bundle Apache OpenOffice with their machines. (We're open source, so
they don't really need explicit permission from us, of course, but it
is their standard procedure to request permission). But the tend to
be smaller, independent hardware vendors.
There is also the murky hidden world of payments that large OEM
vendors receive from software vendors to distribute their software,
even trial editions. So in many cases the hardware vendor would lose
money if they bundled a fully-featured free office suite!
Now another avenue worth thinking about: brick and mortar stores. A
CD of OpenOffice, placed on an endcap in a department store or grocery
store would cost next to nothing, could be sold for an extremely low
price, say $5.00, and be almost pure profit for the store.
Another interesting idea would be companies like Redbox that have
movie rental kiosks in the US. They could distribute software CD's
as well.
Regards,
-Rob
>
> Nancy
>
>
>
>
> Nancy Web Design
> Free 24 hour pass to lynda.com.
> Video courses on SEO, CMS,
> Design and Software Courses
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>
> To: "dev@openoffice.apache.org" <de...@openoffice.apache.org>
> Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2014 11:33 AM
> Subject: Re: Looking forward to 250 million users
>
>
> On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 11:48 AM, Hagar Delest <ha...@laposte.net> wrote:
>> Le 11/01/2014 15:37, Guy Waterval a écrit :
>>
>>> The downloads do not necessarily correspond to real users, as you said
>>> before if I good remember, but it's a good indicator.
>>> We should penetrate deeper into the Windows world, I have always the
>>> impression that we are too much in the pool of former users of
>>> OpenOffice.org.
>>
>> +1.
>> Each time we upgrade, it's a new download but it doesn’t mean that there is
>> a new user.
>> Same when I upgrade my xubuntu distro: sometimes I don't download AOO again
>> and sometime I download again the debs.
>>
>
> I wouldn't focus too much on the counting methodology, which is
> imperfect. Think of the question as: How do we triple the number of
> users of AOO?
>
> On my blog last year [1] I discussed a model of market share based on
> three factors:
>
> 1) Customer awareness == what % of the target market knows about your product
>
> 2) Customer motivation == what % of people who have hard of your
> product have tried it
>
> 3) Customer satisfaction == what % of users who tried your product
> continue to use it.
>
> Market share is the product of these three factors. Some needs to
> hear of OpenOffice, try OpenOffice and continue using OpenOffice
> before they are really a "user".
>
> In the blog post I discussed one approach to estimating these factors
> and came up with the following for OpenOffice:
>
> Awareness = 30.7%
>
> Motivation = 67.4%
>
> Satisfaction = 77.8%
>
> Given those figures I'd expect the greatest growth would come from
> increasing awareness. If fully 70% of internet users have not even
> heard of OpenOffice, then that is our biggest opportunity for growth.
> We could triple the number of users, if we tripled the number of users
> who are aware of it.
>
> Note: I bet the most savvy computer users are already aware of
> OpenOffice. We need to reach out to the masses who know very little
> about open source, people very unlike ourselves. That's what makes
> this challenging: marketing to people not like us., supporting them,
> writing documentation for them, and ultimately designing software for
> them.
>
> Regards,
>
> -Rob
>
>
> [1] http://www.robweir.com/blog/2013/10/the-power-of-brand-and-the-power-of-product-part-3.html
>
>>
>>
>>> I think a solution would be to push the portable version, but
>>> preconfigured
>>> with templates and cliparts and some extensions preinstalled to avoid that
>>> the user is confronted too fast with configurations issues.
>>> Why not a portable version by language entirely preconfigured with
>>> templates and cliparts that could be distributed on customized USB keys by
>>> companies to their clients ? Everybody could have an office suite ready
>>> to
>>> use on his/her USB key, lipstick tube, pocket knife, etc. People could
>>> use
>>> their own free office suite on almost any computer they encounter, without
>>> the need to have their own laptop. Perhaps a good challenge for each
>>> community to provide such a product specially adapted to what is really
>>> needed in their own country.
>>
>> +1.
>> Making the portable version a part of the whole project would be indeed a
>> good idea, easing the promotion of AOO.
>>
>> Hagar
>>
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscribe@openoffice.apache.org
>> For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help@openoffice.apache.org
>>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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> For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help@openoffice.apache.org
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Re: Looking forward to 250 million users
Posted by Nancy K <na...@yahoo.com>.
I want to throw out an idea that might bring in new users. The open source android market and dependence on mobile technology are quickly increasing in the number of users. Why not have a mobile version Open Office suite ready for all android devices? I can't help but think of all of the PC's that are bought with MS programs already installed - and the people that are less technically inclined never change browsers or programs - especially if it will cost money to upgrade. If a device is produced with OpenOffice already in place, especially if it is optimized for mobile users - I think that would certainly introduce this software to a growing audience.
I am trying to think of ways that Open Office could be more mobile, and so far:
1. Voice to text could be utilized
2. Cloud storage for easier access between devices including mobile to PC
3. Slick interface that is easy to read, not a tiny version of the desktop format - but designed specifically for mobile usability
I started researching what android office suites are being used and came across a 2013 article by PC Magazine http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2419589,00.asp
The 5 best android office suites they mention do not look that great - except maybe polaris office (the first example on their slide show: http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l=311949&a=311948&po=1,00.asp )
I also came across AlwaysOnPC that does use OpenOffice http://www.alwaysonpc.com/aboutOpenOffice.php
The more I research, I see that all of the above are in place, just not all of them easily found without research and many in more than one 3rd party product not tied together - which most people will not do unless they are looking for a specific answer to a problem. Does this seem like a productive direction? I am still thinking about ways to help Open Office grow, and this was my first thought.
Nancy
Nancy Web Design
Free 24 hour pass to lynda.com.
Video courses on SEO, CMS,
Design and Software Courses
________________________________
From: Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>
To: "dev@openoffice.apache.org" <de...@openoffice.apache.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2014 11:33 AM
Subject: Re: Looking forward to 250 million users
On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 11:48 AM, Hagar Delest <ha...@laposte.net> wrote:
> Le 11/01/2014 15:37, Guy Waterval a écrit :
>
>> The downloads do not necessarily correspond to real users, as you said
>> before if I good remember, but it's a good indicator.
>> We should penetrate deeper into the Windows world, I have always the
>> impression that we are too much in the pool of former users of
>> OpenOffice.org.
>
> +1.
> Each time we upgrade, it's a new download but it doesn’t mean that there is
> a new user.
> Same when I upgrade my xubuntu distro: sometimes I don't download AOO again
> and sometime I download again the debs.
>
I wouldn't focus too much on the counting methodology, which is
imperfect. Think of the question as: How do we triple the number of
users of AOO?
On my blog last year [1] I discussed a model of market share based on
three factors:
1) Customer awareness == what % of the target market knows about your product
2) Customer motivation == what % of people who have hard of your
product have tried it
3) Customer satisfaction == what % of users who tried your product
continue to use it.
Market share is the product of these three factors. Some needs to
hear of OpenOffice, try OpenOffice and continue using OpenOffice
before they are really a "user".
In the blog post I discussed one approach to estimating these factors
and came up with the following for OpenOffice:
Awareness = 30.7%
Motivation = 67.4%
Satisfaction = 77.8%
Given those figures I'd expect the greatest growth would come from
increasing awareness. If fully 70% of internet users have not even
heard of OpenOffice, then that is our biggest opportunity for growth.
We could triple the number of users, if we tripled the number of users
who are aware of it.
Note: I bet the most savvy computer users are already aware of
OpenOffice. We need to reach out to the masses who know very little
about open source, people very unlike ourselves. That's what makes
this challenging: marketing to people not like us., supporting them,
writing documentation for them, and ultimately designing software for
them.
Regards,
-Rob
[1] http://www.robweir.com/blog/2013/10/the-power-of-brand-and-the-power-of-product-part-3.html
>
>
>> I think a solution would be to push the portable version, but
>> preconfigured
>> with templates and cliparts and some extensions preinstalled to avoid that
>> the user is confronted too fast with configurations issues.
>> Why not a portable version by language entirely preconfigured with
>> templates and cliparts that could be distributed on customized USB keys by
>> companies to their clients ? Everybody could have an office suite ready
>> to
>> use on his/her USB key, lipstick tube, pocket knife, etc. People could
>> use
>> their own free office suite on almost any computer they encounter, without
>> the need to have their own laptop. Perhaps a good challenge for each
>> community to provide such a product specially adapted to what is really
>> needed in their own country.
>
> +1.
> Making the portable version a part of the whole project would be indeed a
> good idea, easing the promotion of AOO.
>
> Hagar
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscribe@openoffice.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help@openoffice.apache.org
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help@openoffice.apache.org
Re: Looking forward to 250 million users
Posted by Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>.
On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 11:48 AM, Hagar Delest <ha...@laposte.net> wrote:
> Le 11/01/2014 15:37, Guy Waterval a écrit :
>
>> The downloads do not necessarily correspond to real users, as you said
>> before if I good remember, but it's a good indicator.
>> We should penetrate deeper into the Windows world, I have always the
>> impression that we are too much in the pool of former users of
>> OpenOffice.org.
>
> +1.
> Each time we upgrade, it's a new download but it doesn’t mean that there is
> a new user.
> Same when I upgrade my xubuntu distro: sometimes I don't download AOO again
> and sometime I download again the debs.
>
I wouldn't focus too much on the counting methodology, which is
imperfect. Think of the question as: How do we triple the number of
users of AOO?
On my blog last year [1] I discussed a model of market share based on
three factors:
1) Customer awareness == what % of the target market knows about your product
2) Customer motivation == what % of people who have hard of your
product have tried it
3) Customer satisfaction == what % of users who tried your product
continue to use it.
Market share is the product of these three factors. Some needs to
hear of OpenOffice, try OpenOffice and continue using OpenOffice
before they are really a "user".
In the blog post I discussed one approach to estimating these factors
and came up with the following for OpenOffice:
Awareness = 30.7%
Motivation = 67.4%
Satisfaction = 77.8%
Given those figures I'd expect the greatest growth would come from
increasing awareness. If fully 70% of internet users have not even
heard of OpenOffice, then that is our biggest opportunity for growth.
We could triple the number of users, if we tripled the number of users
who are aware of it.
Note: I bet the most savvy computer users are already aware of
OpenOffice. We need to reach out to the masses who know very little
about open source, people very unlike ourselves. That's what makes
this challenging: marketing to people not like us., supporting them,
writing documentation for them, and ultimately designing software for
them.
Regards,
-Rob
[1] http://www.robweir.com/blog/2013/10/the-power-of-brand-and-the-power-of-product-part-3.html
>
>
>> I think a solution would be to push the portable version, but
>> preconfigured
>> with templates and cliparts and some extensions preinstalled to avoid that
>> the user is confronted too fast with configurations issues.
>> Why not a portable version by language entirely preconfigured with
>> templates and cliparts that could be distributed on customized USB keys by
>> companies to their clients ? Everybody could have an office suite ready
>> to
>> use on his/her USB key, lipstick tube, pocket knife, etc. People could
>> use
>> their own free office suite on almost any computer they encounter, without
>> the need to have their own laptop. Perhaps a good challenge for each
>> community to provide such a product specially adapted to what is really
>> needed in their own country.
>
> +1.
> Making the portable version a part of the whole project would be indeed a
> good idea, easing the promotion of AOO.
>
> Hagar
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscribe@openoffice.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help@openoffice.apache.org
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Re: Looking forward to 250 million users
Posted by Andrea Pescetti <pe...@apache.org>.
Hagar Delest wrote:
> Making the portable version a part of the whole project would be indeed
> a good idea, easing the promotion of AOO.
The portable version by Winpenpack is linked from
http://www.openoffice.org/porting/
always up-to-date, available in many languages and mentioned on the
download page. It is not formally part of the project, but developers
have been quite responsive so far and I believe that requests for
enhancements can be proposed to them too.
Making it officially part of the project would bring some administrative
burden and would make things a little bit more complex than what they
are now. On the other hand, would this bring significant advantages to
users?
Regards,
Andrea.
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Re: Looking forward to 250 million users
Posted by Hagar Delest <ha...@laposte.net>.
Le 11/01/2014 15:37, Guy Waterval a écrit :
> The downloads do not necessarily correspond to real users, as you said
> before if I good remember, but it's a good indicator.
> We should penetrate deeper into the Windows world, I have always the
> impression that we are too much in the pool of former users of
> OpenOffice.org.
+1.
Each time we upgrade, it's a new download but it doesn’t mean that there is a new user.
Same when I upgrade my xubuntu distro: sometimes I don't download AOO again and sometime I download again the debs.
> I think a solution would be to push the portable version, but preconfigured
> with templates and cliparts and some extensions preinstalled to avoid that
> the user is confronted too fast with configurations issues.
> Why not a portable version by language entirely preconfigured with
> templates and cliparts that could be distributed on customized USB keys by
> companies to their clients ? Everybody could have an office suite ready to
> use on his/her USB key, lipstick tube, pocket knife, etc. People could use
> their own free office suite on almost any computer they encounter, without
> the need to have their own laptop. Perhaps a good challenge for each
> community to provide such a product specially adapted to what is really
> needed in their own country.
+1.
Making the portable version a part of the whole project would be indeed a good idea, easing the promotion of AOO.
Hagar
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Re: Looking forward to 250 million users
Posted by Guy Waterval <wa...@gmail.com>.
Hi Rob
2014/1/7 Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>
> So we reached the 85 million download mark. Yea! 100 million will be
> here soon. Even if we never have another release we will reach 100
> million sometime in the next few months. It doesn't require much
> effort. Inertia will do it. We have a solid application, translated
> into many languages, available on all major operating systems. We
> have a popular brand name and user satisfaction as well. 100 million
> will not require much effort at all.
>
> So let's set a bigger target for ourselves. How about 250 million, a
> nice round number? To get there will require more than just the
> status quo. It will require more than just repeating ourselves.
>
> What kinds of things would we need to do to reach that kind of goal?
>
> 1. Additional translations, especially for large language communities
> like Hindi, Malay, Telugu and Persian.
>
> 2. A leap forward in product quality and performance
>
> 3. Nailing Microsoft interoperability, across binary and XML formats
>
> 4. Working well out-of-the-box on all platforms, meaning code signing
> on Windows and Mac and repository installs on Linux.
>
> 5. Something extra, something unique. We need to be more than just
> gratis and libre. There needs to be a reason to use OpenOffice even
> if you already had Microsoft Office.
>
> Any ideas?
>
The downloads do not necessarily correspond to real users, as you said
before if I good remember, but it's a good indicator.
We should penetrate deeper into the Windows world, I have always the
impression that we are too much in the pool of former users of
OpenOffice.org.
I think a solution would be to push the portable version, but preconfigured
with templates and cliparts and some extensions preinstalled to avoid that
the user is confronted too fast with configurations issues.
Why not a portable version by language entirely preconfigured with
templates and cliparts that could be distributed on customized USB keys by
companies to their clients ? Everybody could have an office suite ready to
use on his/her USB key, lipstick tube, pocket knife, etc. People could use
their own free office suite on almost any computer they encounter, without
the need to have their own laptop. Perhaps a good challenge for each
community to provide such a product specially adapted to what is really
needed in their own country.
A+
--
gw
>
>