tlug: Linux and 'Crossing the Chasm'

[Jim Schweizer <schweiz@example.com>]

Hi all,

I was just reading 'Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling
High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers' by Geoffry Moore and
sat back for a few minutes to muse on how Linux could benefit
from its strategies.

For Linux to be successful it must adopt a marketing strategy
designed to 'cross the chasm' between selling to Innovators/early
adapters and an early majority of users.

Visionaries and early adapters are already singing the praises
of Linux and of the Free Software movement. But there are big
differences between them and the people in mainstream corporate
environments who make the buying decisions.

The early adapters differ greatly from the early majority in
their buying habits - early majority buyers are pragmatists.
They want to buy from market leaders with proven track records
and from companies that adhere to industry standards. They want
a high degree of customer support, etc.

In the words of my brother, Paul, "This is just my opinion but,
when I look at Linux from the standpoint of an MIS director, I
see a cost nightmare.  I have no single source that is
accountable for support issues.  I see a limited supply of
qualified support engineers and technicians.  I see a limited
supply of drivers for new hardware. And the list goes on...." 
email Fri. Feb. 28, 1997

Pragmatists may not trust the visionaries in the innovator/early 
adapter market. They want references from within their own group
- references that come from companies already using the product.

If you are in a start-up period, where do the references come
from? One possible strategy is the 'Normandy Beach' approach.
The visionaries have given you the base of operations (England), 
and you have the goal of market domination (liberation of
Europe.) What you do is establish yourself firmly in a market
niche (Normany beach) then throw all your marketing/sales
efforts into expanding the market (moving off the beaches and
into the country side.)

Where within the purchasing departments of large corporations is
Linux's Omaha beach? Is it in the web server loaded with
RedHat/Apache quietly counting up hits day after day, week after
week without any down time? Is it in the old Slackware box
hiding in the corner providing print spooling services without a
large maintenance overhead? Is it in the new TurboLinux box
running Samba?

"Reduction in scope is key to the chasm crossing strategy." If
you want to dominate a market, you must first dominate one
section of it. Does being a web server utilize all of Linux's
strengths? No way! But it does get Linux noticed.

IMHO the recent thread about Office Suites was misguided. M$
Word and Ichitaro are solidly entrenched. For Linux to be
jumping up and down shouting, "Me too!" is not going to get it
noticed. 

What Linux needs is a well designed application profile. One
thing that Linux can focus on and use as a landing point. People
use toasters, coffee makers and refrigerators in the kitchen, but
they don't combine them into one product and try to get Sekisui
House to sell it.

Innovators and early adapters are interested in how all parts of 
Linux works. Mainstream customers aren't going to be. For them
it's going to be more like buying a Christmas tree - as long as
the good part is showing, they're happy.

So, as the troops mass in the ports of Southern England, have
the Chiefs of Staff found a landing point?

Regards,

Jim S.
        
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Jim Schweizer <schweiz@example.com>
#include <disclaimer.h>
A conclusion is simply the place where someone
got tired of thinking.
http://www1.harenet.or.jp/~schweiz/
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