[indiana-discuss] Indiana Wish List

[Patrick Finch]

Frank van der Linden wrote:
> Martin Man wrote:
> 
>> This looks to me like a very good brand management from the Linux side 
>> (whatever Linux means) and bad brand management from the Sun side, some 
>> people are willing to pay huge money for strong brands... looks to me 
>> like a marketing game (more at wikipedia)... did I hear someone say 
>> "typical Apple user?"
> 
> Yep, that's a good point. And it will be hard to get these users to 
> switch to OpenSolaris. They are emotionally invested in their brand, and 
> even if there are good reasons to switch, they will come up with reasons 
> not to. And I think it would be a mistake to think that those users will 
> consider switching if we say "we're making OpenSolaris more like Linux". 
> I'm certainly not a marketing expert, but it seems to me that saying it 
> like that weakens your own brand.

I won't claim expertise, but I don't think that marketing theorists 
would agree that the statement "we're making OpenSolaris more like 
Linux" weakens the OpenSolaris brand (such as it is) at all.

Association of a brand with another leading brand in the same category 
usually strengthens, as does the publicity generated (how many articles 
have you seen about Indiana?).

Extending the brand with new categories, however, is usually considered 
to weaken a brand, as is expanding its meaning.


Patrick