Subject: Re: Ideas for "Marketing" Abiword
From: Alan (horkana@tcd.ie)
Date: Sun Aug 05 2001 - 10:33:36 CDT
[some thoughts in no particular order]
It would be very cool to have abiword embedded as a Mozilla/Netscape
plugin. Netscape 4.x totally cooked the Jared's Document which is
currently being discussed, and Mozilla tried to display it as text (but
downloaded it correctly).
The recent thread about Embedding Abiword show that this is a good
prospect for the future, but as always someone needs to volunteer.
I have a theory that most ordinary people get Microsoft Office because
they need a spell checker. They use Microsoft Outlook and it wont do
any spellchecking unless you have MSWord installed. It would be great
if abiword could use its dictionaries provide that feature, but i guess
that is more in the realms of an extension to pspell. There is also an
option in a Outlook (dont know which version) to write you mail using
MSWord, it would be go if abiword could be used instead.
So i guess thats more Requests For Enhancement (RFE) to add to the
list.
I had previously thought along the similar lines as your suggestion of
CDs Route3 (mentioned agian in Route 7) but more specifically i thought
about targeting almost every computer magazine on the planet that has a
cover disc.
If we can provide a good free word processor*, _foolproof_ instructions
on how to install it (dont talk to even me about dependencies) simple
enough for our archetypal "church secretary" who may never have ever
even installed a progam before, and simple basic tutorials so that
anyone wanting to put it on a magazine cover disc will have to do
virtually no work. Then the magazines should almost jump at the
offer.
[* mostly done, but always room for improvement]
I suggest we change the wording of the install to encourage people to
distrubite Abiword as widely as they possilby can, perhaps even asking
people if they like abiword to share and show it with their friends.
> I would add Route 6: redesign the website.
Redesigning the website is a fairly clever bit of marketing if you can
get it done. It would be ideal if the website reflected how dynamic and
active the mailing lists are, and target users more specifically and
make their life easier.
You suggested getting OEMs to include Abiword, this is a good idea as
hardware manufacturers have nothing to lose by giving away software.
There is the perceived problem of having to "support" anything they
include with their product, but most companies make no promises about
Adobe acrobat reader so there must be a way to get it done.
I hope that made sense. Please argue, comment, respond and make your
own suggestions.
Mise Le Meas
Alan
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