Marketing of Zorin and others.

I apologise of this post is in the wrong section.
New to this forum and still getting to know it.

To many sellers and other business people there are 7 basic adopted rules (of Disruptive Technology) now which need to be looked at and applied when pursuing a successful outcome to a venture one is involved in.

One of them is "Simplicity is King". Another is "End Users Will Drive Tech Decisions". Without bogging members here in marketing from start to finish, the just mentioned align with a problem that Zorin and other systems not Windows/Apple based, have.

In short, for your average end user (a consumer - be it free or price burdened) who wishes to opt for a new operating system, they face an immediate decision based upon easy usability and just as important, adaptability and even slight repair in the face of problem situations.

Your average user, is not in any way a coding expert. Your neighbour next door more than likely would not have a clue about how to go enter a basic command instruction, never mind the more heave stuff of complicated reading code and then breaking it up, to enter further improvements or variations.

In marketing terms, alternative operating systems Ubuntu based and others beyond Microsoft/Apple, are still regarded as the 'stuff of geeks' or techies. Lets be honest.
This is very unfortunate - as I have found, using Zorin as a GUI environment and with response speed alone (besides other positive factors), is a pleasure to use.

Keeping my thoughts short (in part, so not to bore you), alternative operating systems will never become more mainstream, an on the counter consumable (free or not) as such, as long as they not only remain seen to be a more specialised elite system but in marketing terms - and this is very important - just not very welcoming to the average person walking down your towns highstreet.

I love Zorin - I do - but with my marketing head on, I have to say it and others face an massive uphill marketing battle in trying to 'sell' itself to the world in terms of:
"Ease of use",
"Installation of outside third party products beyond its own internal software installer",
"Problem solving regarding even basic drivers",
...and more.


To the credit of the makers of Zorin, the http://zorinos.com website a joy to see in regards readability and navigation etc. Its clean, slick, professional and more. Clearly the makers of that site are experienced and have dome their research/homework.

Other makers of operating systems, are massively shooting themselves in their foot and possible pocket, if they are seeking to charge (or not) for their wares, by the way they have their sites set up. Reading some of them or even trying to, is an absolute nightmare when looking at it from a simple consumer point of view.
The makers of such sites simply forget that the vast majority of people are not I.T. geeks not frankly have the time to be one, even if they wanted to!

Alternative operating systems have been large used by companies for a number of reasons. All good reasons. such systems were installed and if need be, re-configured by 'geeks' or 'techies' as to suit the demand by their bosses or themselves. All good.

For more general adoption of alternative systems to the mainstream public however, the marketing of it needs to be serious addressed. That however cannot happen till an even more fundamental process is carried out in regards to people/businesses look at the ease of use, not only of their GUI operating system but also in terms of a wanna be average user being able to get their head around the instant hit hit pages of techie techno-babble they face as soon as they run into a question they want answered or a problem they face with such an alternative operating system.

There is 5 basic stages in the consumer buying process.
1. Need/problem recognition.
2. Information search.
3. Alternative evaluation.
4. Decision purchase.
5. Post-purchase behaviour.

Keeping the above in mind - when your average soon possible consumer/end-user goes out to seek a product, immediately on point one, on a lot of sites right away, there are a complete turn off frankly in regard to welcoming non-techies.

All sales are done with the eyes in more ways than you might think!
Watch this video if you get the chance:

Code:

https://youtu.be/4HdA924aqbM

The average consumer looks at a site alone for not more than 10 to 30 seconds and then decides to stay or move on. If they are immediate hit with something that looks like they are facing a steep learning curve, chances are, they are going to pass on. On this area alone I could go on - but I won't here.

The rest of the points above are basic self-explanatory. I could expand upon them but don't wish you bore you any more, the reader. The shorter point summary is that, sadly... your PC operating system maker still faces an uphill battle to persuade a average high-street person (who actually is already actively seeking out a new system), to adopt a more alternative beyond that of Microsoft/Apple.

Makers of alternative operating systems in PR marketing terms are doing themselves absolute no favours. This quite honestly is a shame because the brains and ingenuity behind many of these alternative systems deserve greater higher recognition for their work and ability to adapt according to environment and other working conditions.

I would like to see Zorin and others be used more out there - as I'm sure the makers of them would too. For that to happen, all involved (not just in Zorin), need to sit down in a room and not leave it till they seriously look, then address "average consumer adoption" in marketing terms and with other industry makers of other systems, re-do their whole approach to end user taking on board their wares.

You have people out there right now looking for new operating systems. Its a shame that from the outset, makers of alternatives (with already made products to be able handed over) are at same time, still shooting themselves in the foot in so many ways when there is hands out from an end-user, wanting to grab a new solution - but still being put off by a number of addressable factors!

The whole marketing of alternative systems seriously needs to be addressed if they are to gain a greater, longer growing foothold in the average consumer world I.T. zone. Food for thought.

OK, let's get one thing straight, GNU/Linux as it should be correctly termed (no GNU no Linux - GNU is the basic operating system, Linux is the Kernel that drives the OS - the donkey work was actually done by Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds just came out with a viable kernel before Richard Stallman could - so you see, GNU/Linux is more about personal choice than it is marketing, and we are not just talking 'free' as in 'free beer' we are talking fundamental freedoms here so you need to look at stallman.org for a clearer picture. If you look at what Zorin has achieved recently, you should check their Blog out on the main site. People most days want an easy solution without putting any effort in - and from personal experience this happens with people who use Windows any way and aren't prepared even to learn how to save toner/ink on their printer settings without loss of quality of output - as has been said in other scenarios - "You only get out as much of something as you are prepared to put into something" and sadly most people fit into that category. I appreciate where you are coming from. You also have to bear in mind that GNU/Linux is not owned by one person but is community driven and therefore 'marketing' is a bit of an anathema. Sadly, GNU/Linux was on a par with Apple in terms of a holistic approach that encompassed users with disabilities - the Gnome Project sank the stalwart efforts of the guy who had a visual impairment himself, created Orca, the open source Screen Reader which had a fully configurable interface as you would see in say JAWS or other screen readers e.g., read words, read characters and words, and an exception editor e.g., ;Siobhan; - read as 'shivorn'. The Gnome Project in its kack-handed wisdom decided to 'absorb' it into the environment to prevent the Desktop form crashing - until Gnome goes 'back' to Gnome 2 GNU/Linux is never going to make it. One of the underlying tenets of GNU/Linux has been the ability to breathe new life into old 32-bit systems - we don't actually 'need' 64-bit - it's just 'desirable' because the Games industry is only second to the Movie and **** industry - that is what is driving technology - not the desire to have a basic OS that lets you do what you NEED to do: Create documents, send emails, browse and purchase items using a Browser, Research information for a project etc. There is too much technology being 'dumped' in Asia - interestingly I watched a documentary on Al Jazeera about one guy tracing where illegal dumping of hardware was taking place in Asia - ironically a large consignment was found to have been sent there from the US Environment Protection Agency! Thankfully, new Transcontinental Laws are/have coming/come into force that computers that are sent for recycling should take place in the country of first use. swarf' has spoken.

If you are looking for something that will run Windows apps out of the box (well depends on what the app is) then Deepin 15.1 comes with Cross Over 14.1.1 from Codeweavers as standard which I am not sure on the legality of as you normally have to pay for it - I could install Office 2002 in live mode, log out, and back in againi, and Office was still there - but No Outllook and No Access. Plus with Deepin 'simple scan' worked instantly with my Canon All-in-One printer - not so with Zorin (Zorin 9 32-bit Ultimate) - but with Deepin there is no easy method to remove stuff unless you have a knowledge of BASH in the Terminal, or 'aptitude' also from the 'Terminal'.

This might suit you and it is the work of ONE guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HpRxulW3pg

As regards GNU/Linux systems, my point is that if the makers of such systems want to advance the adoption of their work more widespread, they seriously do need to look at the front end of not just their systems but the way its 'sold' to the I.T. user in terms of marketing, including not just visual perception.
Just in marketing terms, overall, marketing GNU/Linux to a person on the street has been a disaster from the start - and thats a damn shame as there is some really great work and brains behind it all.

The main makers of GNU/Linux systems really do (as I've mentioned) get their heads together and in a room/on-line service such as Stack (example), over days/months, work on the creation of a front-end marketing standard top which all should aim for or stick to (to do each all others a favour in the long run, as well as themselves).
GNU/Linux systems will in ten years time remain still in the realm more of the techies while its still seen as only very non high-street person friendly. They currently are not appealing to a majority in any way of the market segmentations of Demographic, Geographic, Behavioural and Psychographic to begin with.

I say all this in favour of GNU/Linux systems and hope they are used more widespread.

Marketing chains people; I'd rather be free to choose not only my OS but what happens under the hood, and what I want to put on it, but then again I am a self taught nerd. I don't want to be force-fed by M$, Fruit vendors that allow people making their products either dying making them or attempting suicide - the problem with marketing is it promotes the idea we should obtain something we don't really need. As the late great Bill Bucks said in one of his shows: "Is anyone in the audience in Marketing? Do all of us a favour, find a tall building and jump off it".

There is this perception that marketing is just about persuading people to obtain something they don't want or need. This would be short-sighted.

Proper marketing is also about making people aware that there are alternative solutions and ideas out there that don't have to fit the already set-up perception that what you have already is the correct and only coarse of direction.

In marketing methods also - done right - GNU/Linux systems could further inform people more about the the last paragraph. Presently, the vast majority of PC/laptop end-users are not orientated toward GNU/Linux.
Now we can blame everyone else or we (GNU/Linux advocates) can also take some of the responsibility for this as we continue not to get across better the message of "There is alternatives and this is how too they can be equally useful.". If you watched the above liked video (where the woman speaks about "the eyes do the buying"), again you will be educated that "perception is everything" - especially to an end-user in our case. This is UNDOUBTEDLY been time and again, been proven to be the case.

We ALL engage in marketing. If its to persuade someone to obtain our GNU/Linux creation or persuade our other half to chose their minds about a decision. Its all about being informative, persuadable debate and offering an alternative view. End of the day, no one can ultimately make YOU obtain something unless YOU are solidly convinced to do so. Unless there is a gun to your head, you still have free rein to say "No." and walk away.

GNU/Linux is not being given to the majority of end-users in a way that it should be. The perception of it being just more so for techies and that it always (more than not) requires a steep learning curve, just to sometimes solve what should be an easy solution for average users, is unquestionably holding its greater adoption back. Again I say, this is a pity.

Well, let's be clear about this - GNU/Linux could not really market the OS when Proprietary Companies, (HP, Canon, D-Link et-al) aren't prepared to support GNU/Linux on the same level playing field as users of M$ or Apple offerings. Couple that with M$ openly donating money to a right-wing organisation that paid for an IT Coder to look at the GNU/Linux code and find any link to Unix code. After the programmer compiled his report stating there was no similarity, he was ordered to look harder. That is why we need to protect our freedoms, and not just in respect of Operating Systems. As I have said before, go to https://stallman.org and take time to read and UNDERSTAND why marketing does NOT fit the GNU/Linux mind set.