Looks like we'll end up with a lot of different versions:
VL "light?"
VL standard
VL standard Live
VL64 standard
VL SOHO
VL SOHO Live
VL64 SOHO
(several others have been suggested in the past)
So, the question is: Do you think there is enough manpower to test and release all of these? I don't think so, perhaps we should scratch some of these, and focus on a few 'core' products (IMO these should be VL standard and SOHO). All the rest is nice and funny, but just niches. We can't and shouldn't make a distro for every niche.
I have to agree. When there are too many choices, people are almost always deterred. They can be confusing to the person looking at VL as a possible distro and they may be overwhelmed with the choices and leave. Studies have shown this to be true. For example, in one study, people shopping in Draeger's, a high-end supermarket in Stanford, Calif., encountered a tasting booth displaying exotic jams. In one case, they were offered six different jams to taste and in another a selection of 24. Once they'd tasted the jams they were given $1 off coupons for the spreads. Thirty percent of those offered a choice of six jams to taste purchased a jar, while only 3 percent of those offered a choice of 24 jams bought any. Apparently, confronting 24 jams is just too much for most people.
Another study found that students were more likely to write a short essay for extra credit if they could choose among six topics rather than 30. Clearly, fewer choices can be key to attracting more customers or users. Microsoft for example has experienced great success in selling Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional. Those were the two choices that the average joe saw. However, with the coming of Vista and the many versions, they have not had as much success, partly to buggy software but also I think, to the fact that are too many choices. This is also a predominate problem in the Linux market today.
Here is a link to the research paper showing that too many choices can be confusing and produce less results:
http://www.columbia.edu/~ss957/whenchoice.htmlI believe that to draw users instead of repelling them, we must strip VL down to just a few choices. Sure we can have other versions and options laying around, but the main ones that we promote on the website, try to sell and advertise for should be the two or three flavors, thus making it simple for the average user (which makes up the majority of the market) to choose.
I have experimented with adding KDE to Standard, but have never produced as good a product as the one put together by more capable people. It seems to me that SOHO is more than just an add-on, it is a refinement of Std. Usually, by the time SOHO appears, several issues/bugs in Std. are discovered and fixed. I do install and test the Standard releases, trying to be of some help, but my main desktop remains the stable SOHO.
I agree. I think there is a need for a customized KDE version of VL. Just installing KDE on STD doesn't cut it and the result are always less satisfying than having a polished, fixed up, cleaned up, custom KDE version of VL. Please don't do away with that. A vanilla install of KDE is not even close to the sweet product called SOHO. Doing away with that seems to be a mistake.
