History: Branding Guidelines

The following are guidelines concerning promotion of WikiSuite, the software and the community.

Free Software vs Open Source

The choice of the terms "Free Software" vs "Open Source" is delicate; for reference:

• https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software#Naming

We want folks from both camps to be heavily involved with us, which is why the WikiSuite tagline is "The most comprehensive and integrated Free / Libre / Open Source enterprise software suite ever developed".

This tagline is quite long, so it's understandable that in cases where space is limited (for example, on Twitter), we can alternatively use "Open Source" or "Free Software".

GNU/Linux vs Linux

Similar to above: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU/Linux_naming_controversy

Let's use "GNU/Linux" and work towards one day becoming an FSF High Priority Free Software Project.

Promoting only what is in WikiSuite

WikiSuite only includes Free / Libre / Open Source software (FLOSS). Some of the components have non-FLOSS plugins (that is, premium or proprietary plugins). We do not use them as part of WikiSuite and, thus, we do not promote them on wikisuite.org. Of course, people can discover and use these on their own, but the long-term strategy of WikiSuite is to reproduce any desired functionality as part of WikiSuite. This will be a tricky political situation, which we need to navigate through. And the main software has rich functionality as per our component criteria.

From the main site of each component:

• Components that are FLOSS only: Tiki, Kolab / Roundcube, Openfire Meetings / Jitsi Meet, Syncthing, KeePass.
• Components with proprietary plugins: Piwik, ClearOS (although most paid apps are services), Elasticsearch and Kibana, Kaltura, Xibo (Android player)
• Need to be checked: FusionPBX/FreeSWITCH, Kimchi/KVM

Similarly, some components also have some things that are FLOSS, but not in WikiSuite. We generally do not promote these, as it will cause our users to look for info and documentation, and in the end, they can't use them in WikiSuite, for example: https://www.elastic.co/products/hadoop .

Truth and backing up our claims

• We are competing with two of the biggest companies in the world (Google and Microsoft), and other companies are increasingly in the Enterprise Suite market.
  • Expect that our promotion will be doubted (by potential users or journalists) or attacked (by alternatives).
  • Even one false or exaggerated statement can be used to discredit everything else.
• Therefore, everything has to be rigorously true.
• We can promote our strengths and avoid talking about our weaknesses. When we talk about weaknesses, we talk about our plan to improve the situation.

Avoid claims like "the best"

This is highly subjective and it depends on the context. It's OK to use superlatives like great, fantastic, awesome, etc.

When we do make claims like "the most", document them like this

Clarity, spelling and grammar

• The first language of a lot of our audience is not English, so let's keep our language level simple and unambiguous. Please avoid idioms.
• Gary Cunningham-Lee can help for all proofreading.

About technical languages

• Our main target is managers that see the value of technology and want their organization to be more efficient, so our communication must not be too techie. If something might be ambiguous, add an explanatory link or mouseover.

Visual consistency

• Bilal Siddiq and Isabelle Montminy will work together to keep branding consistent and evolving according to our needs.

Respecting licenses

• We must be diligent in respect to licenses. Ideally, we find sources of images, videos, and so on that we can remix. And we give proper credit.

Keeping components and service providers in mind

WikiSuite is composed of software components. We must ensure that we do everything we can to make their producers proud of their software being a part of WikiSuite and want to help us promote the project. This applies to service providers as well, for example: https://www.bsfez.com/tiki-browse_freetags.php?tag=wikisuite .

Think re-use and remix

Already one university has taken WikiSuite and re-branded it as Lead To Win Start. They need to be able to re-use all of our content. Some of the producers of software components may also want to re-use and remix. Again, this is also true for service providers, for example: https://www.bsfez.com/tiki-browse_freetags.php?tag=wikisuite .

Message consistency

The branding page should have all of the latest text and images, and should be used for listings. The promotional text we put elsewhere should be coherent with what is on WikiSuite.org.