tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12366865.post9052873616720022266..comments2024-01-16T14:13:50.160+01:00Comments on all mine!: Banshee, referral money and how to earn a honest livingJos Poortvliethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05243886270488333877noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12366865.post-14107747817695499192011-02-20T09:34:22.145+01:002011-02-20T09:34:22.145+01:00Who cares about mono crap like banshee? At least a...Who cares about mono crap like banshee? At least at planet KDE. There's Amarok.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12366865.post-64443836885087498542011-02-18T14:23:48.401+01:002011-02-18T14:23:48.401+01:00@Alan
Jos' $10 000 number comes from an extrap...@Alan<br />Jos' $10 000 number comes from an extrapolation of what Banshee was bringing in the last months : more than $800 in December, and I think about the same amount in January (the report is not out yet).<br /><br />See the following posts for more information :<br />http://jaap.haitsma.org/2011/01/29/santas-gift-to-gnome-foundation-1360/<br />http://gburt.blogspot.com/2010/12/amazon-affiliate-revenue.htmlBertrandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01493204773942257527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12366865.post-91003090391650422302011-02-18T11:56:04.658+01:002011-02-18T11:56:04.658+01:00"This move from Ubuntu takes away resources f..."This move from Ubuntu takes away resources from downstream"<br /><br />Did you mean from *upstream*?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12366865.post-12600402575356878832011-02-18T06:04:13.167+01:002011-02-18T06:04:13.167+01:00"the $10.000 that Banshee brings the GNOME Fo..."the $10.000 that Banshee brings the GNOME Foundation each year"<br /><br />I realise it is confusing, the difference between English speakers and how European languages use the comma and the decimal place but I can only assume you mean €10,000 and that seems like a lot and I can understand that Banshee is popular but I'm not sure from your description where this estimate comes from. It's not that I don't doubt the popularity of Banshee just that with a bit more context I'd be better able to decide for myself if you are being polite and underestimating or otherwise.Alanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04054365553085474438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12366865.post-28035197400320988252011-02-18T00:54:34.712+01:002011-02-18T00:54:34.712+01:00Hi Jos,
I think you hit an important point. Tranfo...Hi Jos,<br />I think you hit an important point. Tranforming your ideas in my perception it means: how to monetize the distribution in a way developpers of the OS and the bundle of applications can be financially better supported for more innovative power. Besides that money is needed for a professional marketing OpenSUSe still lacks.<br /><br />I think too many open source adepts still are too much focused on what they call "freedom". Freedom of what? That's not the right selling point for Joe and Wilma. Would I care to pay for OpenSUSE, LibreOffice, Banshee? Of course not as long as I will not buy a vendor lock-in. And as long as the open source developpers have the freedom to write code in a free and innovative way aimed at the needs of the end user (the CONSUMER) rather than at their own paradigma's and hobbies. Open source versus proprietary wars make no sense and the consumer is not interested in it. <br /><br />My OpenSUSE-system should just work and it has to have the highest level of interoperability and compatibility with other (proprietary) stuff. Restricted formats don't interest me. I just need them. So they have to be available out of the box if possible. Well for OpenSUSE that's not a big problem with the one click installers.<br /><br />Donating party's, fund raising, selling T Shirts, OpenSUSE Festst in Munich or where so ever is not marketing. It is amateurism and preaching for the converted. You don't reach the average consumer with that like Linux in general didn't in the twenty past years. The unique selling point of OpenSUSE is not freedom. Unique selling points of OpenSUSE should be specific capabilities, apps and userfriendlyness the consumer wants and needs. Developpers are as (un)important as far the end users like, want and need what they brew.Unless they invent something really new and sexy like Mark Zuckerberg did with Facebook. The OpenSUSE community should not preach for the converted, but has really to hit the streets. Where the consumers are.<br /><br />Marketing has also easy-to-do aspects. They don't cost no money at all but they only need a change of mind, of mentality. For instance: OpenSUSE could distinguish itself towards the consumer in getting rid of the commandline, also for configuring the system. As no average consumer will dive in the Windows-register, the average "normal human being" doesn't want to use the command line. He hates it. But what if he visits an average Linux-forum, or reads the OpenSUSE helppages? Everyone tells him he should type command a,b,c and d to extract audio from a videofile with ffmpeg. Is this userfriendlyness? No,it has nothing to do with it. So it is no good promotion for OpenSUSE. Fortunately I know the GUI WinFF. That's doing the job for me using ffmpeg in the background.<br /><br />It's not strange over all those years Linux in general did get the wrong image: it's for freaks and geeks. Wether it's true or not. Sponsors like Novell or Canonical never cared for the consumermarkets. They were only interested in the server markets. Well, they did a good job there. It's to the OpenSUSE community to get in another direction. And not always try to invent the wheel the big proprietary brothers already did. OpenSUSE has to make clear to the consumer in a clear marketing strategy and with clever promotion why this particular distribution is suited for the average consumer and what really new and innovative difference it has to offer. Keep a clear image of your brand. Don't mess around with the Ubuntu Unity desktop as OpenSUSE distinguishes itself with the shiny KDE desktop. And so on.<br /><br />Money is important to reach your goals. But without a fundamental change of mind also OpenSUSE will not reach them. As a regular reader of SUSE Planet and SUSE News I do sense first signs of change. I appreciate that cause I'm a satisfied user of OpenSUSE. For me it's a good distribution. When will it be a good one for Wilma and Joe? Or better: when will they ever know OpenSUSE exists?<br /><br />Willem FranssenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12366865.post-84758478344071922402011-02-17T21:47:13.468+01:002011-02-17T21:47:13.468+01:00The unanswered question for a distribution level n...The unanswered question for a distribution level non-profit is what do upstream projects consider reasonable behaviour from a distributor in terms of revenue sharing. There should be some gentlemenly ball-park expectations discussed out in the open.<br /><br />What would Mozilla be happy with in terms of a distributor tax for search revenue? Would would the GNOME Foundation be happy with in terms of a distributor tax on affiliate dollars when sharing with a distributor level non-profit?<br /><br />Get those discussions happening out in the open and get it out from behind closed doors. A Not-for-profit OpenSUSE Foundation may very well be able to have an open dialogue around these issues and help set some firm consensus expectations on the ethics of profit-share in the upstream-distributor relationships across the ecosystem and start untangling the more disruptive aspects of web services revenue and distribution.<br /><br />-jefJef Spaletahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11439754449677675460noreply@blogger.com