[Marketing] just some thoughts

[Miguel Montesinos]

Hi Michael,

I agree *almost* everything, but not all.

> * We should not spend undue effort explaining what Open Source means.
> Those with purchasing authority already know what it is and are
willing to
> believe it can be a good option for them.  (For those who don't
understand
> Open Source, there are plenty of organizations out there already
> propagating the meme.)

I usually come up against explaining both Open Source and FOSS4G. If we
don't give some guidelines about open source, it may stop some CTOs from
going to open source, and it makes impossible therefore to adopt FOSS4G
projects.

> Case studies should demonstrate ROI, so
> the CTO types can see that our stuff is real, not just a bunch of
random
> beta-level code.  Beef up our website and collaterals to directly
address
> this market.  Case studies, Live DVDs, demo portals.

+1

I add Case studies, case studies and more case studies.

I enclose a link to the Case Studies page [1] at OSOR. FYI, OSOR is The
Open Source Observatory and Repository for European public
administrations (OSOR), a platform for exchanging information,
experiences and FLOSS-based code for use in public administrations. I'd
like to have similar contents in OSGeo, updating the wiki page that
Cameron started [2].

And let's highlight standards and interoperability.

Regards,

[1] http://osor.eu/case_studies 
[2] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Case_Studies 


---------------------------------------------
Miguel Montesinos
CTO
PRODEVELOP, S.L.
mmontesinos [at] prodevelop [dot] es
www.prodevelop.es


> -----Mensaje original-----
> De: marketing-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:marketing-
> bounces at lists.osgeo.org] En nombre de Michael P. Gerlek
> Enviado el: jueves, 11 de diciembre de 2008 3:03
> Para: OSGeo Marketing
> Asunto: [Marketing] just some thoughts
> 
> After much research (going back over the mailing list for the past few
> months, reading the proposed budget, pacing back and forth in my
office,
> taking another look at our website and some blog posts, thinking about
the
> OpenGeo folks), I have come to two preliminary conclusions:
> 
> * The "selling geo to open source people" / "selling open source to
geo
> people" dichotomy cuts both ways.  OSGeo has compelling stories for
both
> the development community *and* the existing "geo-focused IT"
community and
> I do not think we can afford to focus on just one or the other.  The
> network effects and the current state of the GIS ecosystem are simply
too
> large to ignore.
> 
> * We should not spend undue effort explaining what Open Source means.
> Those with purchasing authority already know what it is and are
willing to
> believe it can be a good option for them.  (For those who don't
understand
> Open Source, there are plenty of organizations out there already
> propagating the meme.)
> 
> If valid, those propositions then lead me to these spending goals for
2009:
> 
> * Continue to attend classical geo conferences, targeting the user and
> purchaser communities.  Focus almost exclusively on case studies
showing
> how the whole stack works together and interoperates with existing
pieces
> of the tool chain (read: ESRI).  Case studies should demonstrate ROI,
so
> the CTO types can see that our stuff is real, not just a bunch of
random
> beta-level code.  Beef up our website and collaterals to directly
address
> this market.  Case studies, Live DVDs, demo portals.
> 
> * For the developer folks, target the existing GIS developer community
> rather than the non-geo open source crowd.  Provide sufficient project
> descriptions, road-mapping, and examples to show them that they can
use our
> stuff today, on the projects they are already undertaking.  And do it
> almost exclusively via the website, blogs, magazine articles, etc; you
> won't reach the developer types as well at conferences.  Don't stress
about
> trying to reach the existing non-geo open source crowd: they are the
most
> likely ones to find out about us on their own, via blogs and
word-of-mouth
> and such, so we need not specifically go after them; the
developer-oriented
> content on the website we build for the traditional geo developers
will be
> sufficient for them.
> 
> I have not yet decided what those two goals mean to me in terms of
exactly
> how much money to spend on what things, but I thought I'd send this
now in
> case anyone wants to discuss at tonight's mtg.
> 
> -mpg
> 
> PS: I note also that we are likely underserving the education and open
data
> parts of our organization.  These are among the less active
communities,
> perhaps, but we're not spending much effort on promoting their
agendas.
> Not sure how to address this yet.
> 
> 
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