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Sat Nov 26 22:11:05 UTC 2011

actually increasingly interesting because we cover more of the functions =
and languages that they want to use than we used to. LSB still most often =
gets exposed to them by individuals like me who are talking to them about =
containing their costs and expanding their opportunities. This is still an =
overall marketing problem and we still can't advertise individually =
because they can't use it again yet (not intended to be harping on this, =
but I have several ISVs waiting in the wings I can't get back to yet.)

For validation of our direction, we should identify our audience constituen=
cies as clearly as we can (even though there is overlap) and see how we =
are doing for their core interests individually. If we can't serve all of =
them at the same time, we need to prioritize where the LSB delivers the =
most benefit or is most compelling and work on that as a base, then see =
how we can expand from this beach head. I would suggest the following for =
consideration (get your arrows out): :-)
1. Commercial developers - actually there are two groups of them. The =
largest commercial developers can afford to do more maintenance for their =
highly tuned apps than the medium-sized and smaller ISVs who get more of =
their business value from their vertical expertise and innovation. The big =
ones get more recognition of their own brands than from an LSB brand, so =
we would like to give them a way to participate and to sponsor the =
standard if we can, but they are not so interested in getting the mark. We =
all know the list of benefits for the smaller companies.
2. Upstream developers and open source projects. In a number of cases, =
they seem more into their technology than in having someone use their =
projects to run a business. In the extreme, they act on the new cool ideas =
in preference to providing stability for existing users of their technology=
. Since they recompile often, others should too to keep up with the new =
cool ideas and get the benefits of using them.
3. End customers. They want to avoid lock-in when they select apps to run =
their business. The standard can be a distinct help here if apps as well =
as the distros adhere to and participate in the standard. The OS is just =
plumbing, but they still need some consistency in how pipes get connected =
together up the stack and in the upper level apps. If large users are sold =
on LSB, they can dictate or at least influence how their app providers =
work if a large user is purchasing enough of the app provider's software. =
In addition, large users often have some legacy homegrown apps. Where they =
have these for UNIX systems and maybe older Linux versions, they may be =
able to move to newer standard Linux with small to moderate effort, and =
avoid OS lockin. Per IDC and some other recent market research, smaller =
users are showing signs in some markets of adopting more of a turnkey =
"appliance" mentality about their IT purchases. They probably can't see =
LSB conformance inside of their turnkey boxes, so this may not apply to =
all users. Maybe it is more interesting to their system integrators who =
act for them. Cloud images may also more fit this model.

If we accept these as potentially useful categories, we can use them to =
examine the data we have. We need to get the 2011 appcheck data into the =
Navigator. Then we should be able to categorize the app data according to =
the  constituency it comes from. Then if we can really determine what =
commercial apps are missing, what open source apps are missing and what =
customer developers are missing, we may be able to make some progress.=20

I expect a visible amount of variation in their requirements if we select =
our constituencies so that they are distinct. I also suspect we don't have =
many of the end user apps, so we may need some recruiting here by the LF =
staff or by some of our cohorts who have a presence in large customer =
shops where they can talk to the customer about the LSB and ask them to =
help out. The end user Summit also comes to mind. What do we ever get =
actual LSB data or help back from that?

Food for thought.=20
            -Kay T.

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