Chronicling the intrepid adventures of an ivory-tower theorist.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
OpenOffice... for FREE?
Update Java now and get OpenOffice FREE!
To get a FREE copy of OpenOffice, the global standard in free Microsoft Office compatible productivity software, just click the More Information link below.
Yah, I chuckled when I read about it. For a while I was hesitant, cause (as I thought) MS Office had a really neat headings navigator. You could title chapters (say in a novel) and it'd list them such that you could just click right on them and jump to it. I didn't think OO had that for a long time. Then I tried it again one time and looked through the "for users of MS" section. It talked about the navigator there... which not only shows you headings, but any graphics, tables etc that you have. Add in the super easy to use in-text variables (like booleans!) it was a no brainer. I can set "showsummaries" to 0 and save a doc for friends to read, etc. Wonderful program. Now if only Blender and GiMP were so cool. (sorry for the novel)
Well, Lightwave's UI is pretty antiso cial too, but a couple of months into it i had it and here I am. I've been working with Blender on and off for a year now and it just never clicks. I usually have an Aha! moment with programs (like Max and Maya) afterwhich I can do many more things than previously. I'm still having a hard time loading objects in Blender, let alone making new triangles or editing existing ones... let alone animation or rendering. ;;
Personally, I think that each artistic program should offer a variety of (customizable) UI to serve a variety of mindsets and trainings... but that's a lot of work and can screw up training someone for the program.
Lightwave's UI is completely customizable... but more importantly the workflow makes sense. I don't really use UI buttons except when learning the program or for esoteric things that I like to have laid out visually. With Blender I dunno if it's the UI or the basic paradigm of the program itself that I find unfathomable.
I think it's brilliant. A bit more reverse psychology would help, but here's the thing:
People think 'free' means 'crappy'. If you offer your software for free, it must not be worth anything, right? So why bother using it, when there is a readily available piece of software that ONLY costs $100 (or less, if you can find a SALE!), and is advertised on TV!
Whereas, if you 'advertise' your software as 'for a limited time only, do this thing we supposedly want you to do, and we'll give you something useful as a FREE GIFT!', then people aren't going to say, 'oh, it's free, it must be crap'. The know that only crap is given away as free gifts, but that's not the point! It's FREE, RIGHT NOW! It might not be free tomorrow! So better get it now, and maybe give it a shot.
I'm not sure why this works psychologically. It's completely silly from a logical standpoint. But it works, and it's a great way to advertise.
8 comments:
IMHO OpenOffice is the only opensource application that is truly better than it's commercial counterparts.
I switched a few years ago and haven't looked back.
And ya gotta love marketing speak.
I'm the same way. Especially compared to the idiocy of the new MS Office UI...
Yah, I chuckled when I read about it. For a while I was hesitant, cause (as I thought) MS Office had a really neat headings navigator. You could title chapters (say in a novel) and it'd list them such that you could just click right on them and jump to it. I didn't think OO had that for a long time. Then I tried it again one time and looked through the "for users of MS" section. It talked about the navigator there... which not only shows you headings, but any graphics, tables etc that you have. Add in the super easy to use in-text variables (like booleans!) it was a no brainer. I can set "showsummaries" to 0 and save a doc for friends to read, etc. Wonderful program. Now if only Blender and GiMP were so cool. (sorry for the novel)
GIMP's UI is just poor, but Blender's isn't really poor, it's... antisocial. Once you get to know it a bit, it's not bad at all.
Well, Lightwave's UI is pretty antiso cial too, but a couple of months into it i had it and here I am. I've been working with Blender on and off for a year now and it just never clicks. I usually have an Aha! moment with programs (like Max and Maya) afterwhich I can do many more things than previously. I'm still having a hard time loading objects in Blender, let alone making new triangles or editing existing ones... let alone animation or rendering. ;;
Personally, I think that each artistic program should offer a variety of (customizable) UI to serve a variety of mindsets and trainings... but that's a lot of work and can screw up training someone for the program.
Lightwave's UI is completely customizable... but more importantly the workflow makes sense. I don't really use UI buttons except when learning the program or for esoteric things that I like to have laid out visually. With Blender I dunno if it's the UI or the basic paradigm of the program itself that I find unfathomable.
I think it's brilliant. A bit more reverse psychology would help, but here's the thing:
People think 'free' means 'crappy'. If you offer your software for free, it must not be worth anything, right? So why bother using it, when there is a readily available piece of software that ONLY costs $100 (or less, if you can find a SALE!), and is advertised on TV!
Whereas, if you 'advertise' your software as 'for a limited time only, do this thing we supposedly want you to do, and we'll give you something useful as a FREE GIFT!', then people aren't going to say, 'oh, it's free, it must be crap'. The know that only crap is given away as free gifts, but that's not the point! It's FREE, RIGHT NOW! It might not be free tomorrow! So better get it now, and maybe give it a shot.
I'm not sure why this works psychologically. It's completely silly from a logical standpoint. But it works, and it's a great way to advertise.
Post a Comment