[Zope3-dev] Zope 3 branding

[robert boulanger]

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Luciano,

I've read your mail concerning Zope3 branding and my Open Letter.
I will comment inline.

>
> I think this has gotten really out of control after the recent Open=20
> Letter, in which the first sentence in BOLD TYPE reads "the net effect=20
> is that people hesitate to commit to Zope 2-based systems."  If some=20
> of our potential customers were not hesitating, now many will be.

I disagree with that point. IMHO if they will hesitate, then the letter is =
not=20
the reason. And it is not the first sentence, it is the last one in paragra=
ph=20
four. They are hesitated so far for example, because several people in June=
=20
in Chaleroix created the impression and rumours that Zope3 will be here=20
within 2002.  Yesterday I've read the first time a statement from Jim=20
concerning this topic. (=20
http://lists.zope.org/pipermail/zope3-dev/2003-January/005312.html )
Being happy about this posting, I still wonder whether this has official=20
character and is realistic, or is only his personal plan

There he speaks about a release date Sept. 1st for Zope 3x which will be th=
e=20
incompatible version, and a release date March 1st 2004 for Zope 3.

March 2004. imagine. Thats over one year.=20

Put this roadmap on an official place on Zope.org and all problems are solv=
ed=20
with this one posting.

The problem which caused people to hesitate, is, that there where too much=
=20
statements concerning Zope 3 which reached the public. A lot of information=
=20
about the complete rewrite, about incompatibilities and a bunch of rumours.=
=20
But NO roadmap or timeline. That's the real problem.

PR and marketing for Z3 should not start before a beta 2 is released. But t=
hen=20
with full power. Until this happens, I would suggest to publish an official=
=20
=46AQ somewhere, which should have at least one Question:

Q: "When will Zope 3 arrive"=20
A: "Not before spring 2004"

And you will see that all will calm down again. Starting PR and marketing f=
or=20
Z3 now, would have exactly the negative effect you are complaining about

>
> This is followed by an assertion that, taken out of context, is=20
> disastrous:
>  "Zope3 will eventually arrive. That's not the discussion here. But=20
> when it comes, it will be late. "
>
> All this in a text linked from the top of the main Zope site! Our=20
> competitors must be really celebrating!=20

I would not say disastros: Ok, the word "eventually" was not choosed very=20
well, I agree, but I think the scenario you are painting here is a bit =20
overestimating the impact of a news item.


(BTW, I agree with most of the=20
> arguments in the Open Letter, and support using Plone on NZO, but I=20
> still think the letter is a PR disaster for us).

Thanks

>
> I think some serious action it the PR field is necessary. Changing the=20
> version numbering scheme would give us a good opportunity to clarify=20
> the situation to our current and future customers.

I don't believe the problem is to solve by changing version numbers.
A higher version number for Z3 should have been decided before Z3 developme=
nt=20
was startet. Mixing up all now, will confuse people more then they are=20
already. And concerning PR, please see above.

In meanwhile no new comments have been added to the letter for a while.=20
Unfortunatly nobody from ZC found it worth to give an official response so=
=20
far, so I'm thinking about retracting the news item anyway. One main reason=
=20
for the letter was to get an official statement about Z3's and Z2's future.=
=20
When I look at all the comments which have been added, I think it got overa=
ll=20
a positive response and did what I expected from it: Showing up a problem w=
e=20
all have. Unfortunatly it seems the letter didn't reach all addressees.

>
> Best regards,
>
> Luciano Ramalho
> who bet his company in Zope in 1999
>

Best regards,

Robert Boulanger
who bet his company in Zope also since 1999 :)
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