Re: [e-smith-devinfo] Is this appropriate?

[Ross Laver]

> One of (but of course far from the only!) the most apparent reasons for
> a small or medium sized business to take a closer look at E-Smith used
> to be the unbeatable price/performance factors.
>
> Now this has suddenly changed very quickly, and I would find it hard to
> convince someone to choose an E-Smith-based server for his new business.
> The future feels too unsure, and if the customer would be in great need
> of a STABLE long term support license (most of them are!), how would I
> convince him that this is going to be a stable choice for quite some
> future? What would convince him that this move isn't going to be
> followed by another major price change in the future, - since Mitel
> already has showed they're capable of doing it once they could of course
> do it twice?

For the record, it's incorrect to say there has been a major price change.
Yes, we've introduced a new $595 90-day starter package that includes all of
the ServiceLink services (antivirus, monitoring, VPN config, DNS and
guaranteed email). But existing customers, and those who have purchased the
starter package, can continue to purchase 12-month renewals of their support
agreements for $595. If they choose to purchase one of the more expensive
packages, it's because they want the additional services and perceive them
to be good value (as do we, or  we wouldn't have invested time and enormous
effort in developing them). We can't be expected to introduce new services,
and incur substantial additional costs in the process, and provide them all
at the same price that we used to charge for support only.

Yes, customers need and want stability. By launching new (optional) services
that offer an additional revenue stream for ourselves and our partners, we
ensure greater stability for all concerned. One example: we're in the
process of expanding our development team. That's good for our customers and
good for the open source community. Companies with insufficient revenues cut
back on R and D and eventually disappear. (OK, I'll grant you that rigor
mortis is a kind of stability.)

You're free to decide for yourself whether our services are fairly priced.
Our server is open source, so your options are limitless. In the early days
of this company we sat around talking about the importance of preserving the
customer's freedom to choose, and that commitment hasn't changed one iota.
But I can tell you that the feedback we've been getting from our target
market has been extremely positive. We anticipate strong demand for
V5/ServiceLink, and we can't for a second understand why someone would
believe it would bad for our customers and users if had more money at our
disposal with which to invest in development and support.

 > ..Just an opinion, - no need to flame me......

I hope you won't consider that a flame. I am thinking, though, that perhaps
we need a separate list called bizinfo to ensure that discussions of
business issues don't clutter up this list. Mea culpa :-(

Ross



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