[Marketing] Fwd: [Sugar-devel] Sugar Labs Roadmap. [SD 61;79]

[Sean DALY]

yet another marketing thread on the sugar-devel list


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Yioryos Asprobounitis <mavrothal at yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, Nov 10, 2013 at 5:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Sugar-devel] Sugar Labs Roadmap. [SD 61;79]
To: "sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org" <sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org>


>
> Does anyone else want to add their thoughts on:
>

These are all good for now but without the "safety" of the 2-3 million
default users, SL can not just be the "upstream". There are some more
fundamental questions now that we need to compete in the "open market".

In a nutshell, whom do we target and which of _their_ needs do we cover
better than the competition?

1) Are we targeting (the educational department of) Governments? (ie become
OLPC-A)
2) Are we targeting OEMs? (ie find OLPC-A replacements. Are there any?). If
yes, which needs of *theirs* do we satisfy better than the competition?
3) Are we targeting existing hardware and if yes, only those already
running GNU/Linux? (The vast majority of hardware in and out of schools
although it can, does not run GNU/linux let along Fedora, and is very
likely to stay that way by just adding Android and iOS)

The current html5/js course suggests "door no 3", but I have a hard time
thinking of something that runs in Windows XP-8.1, OSX 10.6-10.9, major
flavors GNU/Linux, iOS and Android 4.x all at the same time and all well!
Not even browsers, let along a UX within a browser.


This "open market" course also require some change in the development
philosophy.
Do we still tell people how things should be done (a la Apple - and GNOME
lately) or do we listen to their needs, experience and priorities? If yes
which ones? Kids, parents, teachers, local/support techs, funding sources,
all of the above (can we)?
Do we place Sugar next/parallel to other edu-apps or the "Sugar Desktop" is
"mandatory"? If the latter, do we integrate (fully sugarize) other apps or
stick with our native repertoire?

That's a lot of questions with no answers and I can appreciate that these
can not be addressed or affect sugar .102 or .104 but they may need to be
decided soon for sugar .106 to materialize.


I also think that options 1 and 2 need a much stronger political cloud and
a political environment of yesterdays to materialize.
So let me suggest option #4 that I'm sure will "raise some eyebrows" (and
hopefully not too much more than that :-) Today handhelds have really
provided cheap and energy efficient computing and communications, and their
penetrance is increasing rapidly around the globe.
Thus, build native Sugar for Tablets/Smartphones and *SELL* it for $1.99
through Google Play (and/or AppStore)  :-o
Obviously, provide the code and a way for rooted (or jail-broken) devices
to install it for free, but people/organizations that opt for specific
quality "locked" hardware and the Sugar software stack QA'ed and supported,
must contribute (a token really) to its development. If you think of it is
like what RHEL is doing and actually much cheaper. Or what OLPC was doing
paying developers to develop software for the hardware that was *selling*
to users.

I can appreciate that this "open market approach" is a major shift in the
culture (but not the reality) of the community from "educational software
politics and policies" to "proven educational software quality". But isn't
quality what we primarily want from educational software?
Although there is plenty of room for improvement, Sugar has this quality
and an installed base to support this claim, and should not be afraid of
this course.
A strong market presence and user endorsement is actually much better than
any PR event or political/academic endorsement in enhancing its appeal and
removing the "3rd world/class" label from the project.
So please consider distributing Sugar .106 through GooglePlay/Appstore!
_______________________________________________
Sugar-devel mailing list
Sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org
http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/marketing/attachments/20131111/ef3a5c9b/attachment.html>