On Saturday 06 November 2010 08:17:45 Silver Salonen wrote: > On Saturday 06 November 2010 08:44:31 Henrik Johansen wrote: > > 'Silver Salonen' wrote: > > >On Friday 05 November 2010 20:24:09 Kern Sibbald wrote: > > >> Bacula Systems does do funded development (only for customers) > > > > > >I'm sorry to drag out one sentence only, but this one caught my > > > attention :) > > > > > >What do you mean by "only for customers" - I guess it's not what it > > >sounds like, but just to clarify: are there any features or functions > > >that are made available only to the customer funding development? I > > >guess you meant something else, right? > > > > > >BTW, I totally understand the idea of Bacula Systems and I also totally > > >agree with points about distinction of the enterprise/community > > >versions. The reasons I see that companies would pay for > > >backup-systems, are plugins for enterprise-class databases and > > >applications, but (as I have understood) there are currently none. If > > >it had some, I'd happily suggest my many customers to buy Bacula > > >Enterprise software, but justifying 1500 EUR technical support (which > > >is the only available licencing model currently, right?) to a company > > >who has its IT dept or a very competent IT service provider, is a bit > > >awkward.. > > > > I tend to disagree. Paying for tech support is much like purchasing an > > insurance, it is risk and time management. > > > > I work for a large IT company full of very smart people but we face the > > same problem as many other companies; we have lots of skills but very > > little time. > > > > Our Bacula support contract is not so much about buying knowledge or > > skills; it is about renting an extra set of hands that we can choose to > > activate if / when we need. > > Yes, ofcourse - paying for support is totally fine and should be one way to > purchase something. Here, in Estonia, most of the companies are small or > medium, so I was speaking on behalf of medium sized companies - they would > easily buy the product, but paying a lot more (than for just a product that > you are totally by yourself with) for support in quite a small setup is not > needed.
> But later, when you see you don't manage with it, you can always > buy support in addition. That is a relatively dangerous way to function if you are speaking about a serious company, for several reasons: 1. You don't have any expert checks/advice on your configuration before you get into trouble. 2. When you get into trouble it can take you weeks or even a months to get a support purchase order completed -- contract difficulties... The bigger a company the more it is complex getting contracts signed. Most big companies want "suppliers" to sign their "paper". Bacula has its own contracts and does not sign 3rd party contracts, unless they want to pay $10,000 or more for our lawyer to read, approve, and negotiate the contract (we don't have the money to do that). 3. Bacula's support contracts are in some respects like health insurance. If you have a pre-existing problem you will need a "consulting" contract to have it fixed before a support contract can begin, and Bacula Systems will only do "consulting" for customers. Bottom line: it can be slow and expensive to resolve, if you have a serious problem. That is for you to decide, of course. Kern ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Next 800 Companies to Lead America's Growth: New Video Whitepaper David G. Thomson, author of the best-selling book "Blueprint to a Billion" shares his insights and actions to help propel your business during the next growth cycle. Listen Now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/SAP-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Bacula-devel mailing list Bacula-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bacula-devel
