Re: Objective-C 2.0 and other new features in Leopard

[Lars Sonchocky-Helldorf]

Am 10.11.2007 um 17:37 schrieb Stefan Bidigaray:

> On Nov 10, 2007 10:43 AM, Jesse Ross <gnustep@jesseross.com> wrote:
> > Call me cynical, but coming up with a slogan doesn't really seem like
> > a solution to the issues that we're having. We need developers, plain
> > and simple. In order to get developers, we need positive exposure.
> > That's not going to happen by pushing what amounts to marketing-
> > speak. Positive exposure is only going to come from building
> > powerful, innovative applications that make use of GNUstep. We need,
> > to put it bluntly, "killer apps".
>
> I agree, but this is one of those the chicken and the egg  
> problems.  In order for a developer to want to write a killer app  
> for GNUstep, GNUstep must have a large user base, but in order for  
> GNUstep to have a large user base there must be a kill app.
>
> Psychologically, a slogan is a must.  There's a reason why every  
> company has a marketing department.
>
> You're also assuming people even know what GNUstep is.  Every time  
> GNUstep does something news worth (like a new release posted on  
> OSNews) someone writes something along the lines: "GNUstep has a  
> new release, great, I've been using WindowMaker for years and love  
> it."  As far as most people know, GNUstep doesn't even exist.
>
> Obviously a slogan isn't going to do anything on it's own, but if  
> you think about it, it's just a phrase, how hard would it be to  
> edit the current logo to include it?

Same opinion here. While we won't be able to solve the chicken and  
egg problem with a stroke of a feather, the slogan thing can be  
helpful to get the word out - and - it costs us virtually nothing.  
Just add the slogan to the title of our html pages.

Then it will read on google if you search for GNUstep: "GNUstep -  
code less, deploy everywhere" instead of "GNUstep - Everything is  
so ... square and gray. - They think we are retarded. They are  
retarded." (third hit currently if you google for GNUstep).

As they say in german: "Klingeln gehört zum Handwerk" (ringing the  
bell (e.g. making noise) is part of the business.)



I also like the idea of a "GNUstep planet", e.g. an aggregation of  
all GNUstep related blogs at the GNUStep website. The camino project  
has such a "planet": http://caminoplanet.org/ which is linked from  
http://caminobrowser.org/blog/. I check it regularly to see what  
happened. I virtually never check the GNUstep website since it never  
changes.

The message of such a planet is: We are working on it, something gets  
done, the project is alive and well.

> > If you build something that people want to install, users will show
> > up to work around deficiencies: packaging, porting, etc. New users
> > will make it easier for themselves, which makes it easier for others,
> > which causes an ecosystem to grow around it. I would guess that Ruby
> > (and Ruby's marketshare and mindshare) has been improved as a result
> > of Rails being the "Next Big Thing". GNUstep will only get into that
> > position by having unique, desirable applications built using it.
>
> The problem here is that you're assuming people don't want to use  
> GNUstep.

I think we already have a kind of could-be-killerapp: GNUstep-Web. It  
is even in the same category as RoR, developing web applications in  
an easy and fast way. But nearly nobody knows about it (as nobody  
knows about WebObjects (wherewith I earn my money) which is also  
widely unknown - but that's another story). I definitely prefer the  
WebObjects way of developing web apps to other web frameworks (and I  
know some, since I am currently doing contract work for another  
company which uses virtually every Java framework available (big mess  
if you ask me ;-)))

We can learn a lot from ruby on rails - for instance that they have  
no problem with advertising their stuff: They're doing webcasts of  
how easy RoR is to use and even stuff like this:

http://www.railsenvy.com/2007/5/16/hi-i-m-ruby-on-rails-part-3

The message is: Ruby on Rails is fun doing.


regards,

        Lars