[openbeos] Re: Think useful, not cool

  • From: "Helmar Rudolph" <helmar@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2001 11:09:32 +0200


> the point being that from a marketing perspective
> we really have to get developers on board to write the
> apps which make the OS useful.

I mentioned it before, and the best example in this case
actually comes from Microsoft, but almost all email clients
fail to recognize that email is about contact management,
but although they all have fancy sorting options, none of
them push the info management into the foreground and
provide reminders of common tasks, ie birthdays,
non-coommunication over a period, non-replies over a time
span, etc. IOW, they are mail sorters and attachment
extractors, but no communication tools. Interestingly,
Outlook (for all its warts), does the best job there,
because it includes a journal, a calendar, synch. tools and
much more.

Now if we did something like this, but without the
vulnerabilities and perhaps on a more user-friendly and
slightly less complex scale in BeOS, and maybe if we
included the info from People, then also created a uniform
fax in/outbox and a uniform IM in/outbox, then one could put
it all together into one easy-to-use yet powerful
"communications center".

The big issue - for all those who haven't noticed yet ;-) -
is the sharing of information, be it files, URLs,
appointments, anything that you deem valuable for something
else, but other than performing the technical task (sending
a mail with an attachment), none of the emailers or even
Instant Messengers are good "sharing" applications.

I hope to change that with Sonork for BeOS, but this is just
to give you an indication where to look for improvements
that rank high on the useability list. I am sure much of
the groundwork for that needs to be done at OS level (ie
mail/IM/fax in/outbox, encryption, synchronization,...)
which is why I'm writing this here, also  in answer of this...

> where do we, the OpenBeOS guys specifically, need to be
> putting our marketer hats on?

So in essence, we, app and OS developers and marketers, have
to put out creative and innovative hats on, because we
mustn't delude ourselves by thinking that people will switch
to the BeOS just because the OS is so cool.  People use
computers to get stuff done faster, and that's exactly where
we have to be better. If we show people that BeOS isn't only
faster and more stable and has a nicer user community, but
also that the applications are innovative and highly useful,
then people will eventually take note - also because the
marketers have the USPs they can promote. 

Marketing a computing platform whose apps are just like
Windows/Linux/Mac, probably slightly worse, is next to
impossible, but this is why it's so important to get
marketing input into the concept and development of
applications.

Take this as some sort of warning, because I hate to see you
all do your work in vain. I want to enjoy marketing the BeOS,
but for that you guys need to be creative and open to
innovation at all levels.

Helmar

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