TeX Live marketing (Was: task list...)

[Arthur Ogawa]

"Nelson H. F. Beebe" wrote:

> >From time to time, I get requests from people who want to buy the
> TeXLive CD, but do not wish to become TUG members.

> If this issue has not already been addressed, perhaps it might be
> handled by charging them the higher price, plus, say, $10...

Thanks for the bringing up the point and for making your suggestion.

Actually, these bear on marketing to individuals rather than bulk sales
to LUGs or others, so it does not fall under my discussion. However they
do require addressing.

My position is to tell such people that they are welcome to purchase the
product. It costs $65 and consists of TeX Live, the CTAN CD set, and
four issues of TUGboat along with, incidently, a TUG membership for
2000. This is to say that TUG has one product, regardless of how it is packaged.

This means that people who want to buy TeX Live alone for cheap are out
of luck. But I think that it is outside of what TUG is able to provide
at this time. We do not do retail sales to my knowledge, and if we did
it is not clear that TUG would be doing it at breakeven, not to speak of
at a profit.

Most often when people want to buy the CD alone, they are not aware of
what TUG is or what it is doing, and they do not realize that TeX Live
is being manufactured by TUG specifically as a benefit to the various
TeX user groups and their members. Once they learn this, they are
usually quite happy to pay the $65. (You can't find a product to compete
with this: the four CDs cost you $65, total!)

If someone contacts you about TL and finds our offer
(http://www.tug.org/texlive) unsatisfactory, please send them on to me.
I would certainly like to become acquainted with the market segment
whose needs we are currently not addressing. Nelson, about how many such
requests do you see?

Arthur