On Sunday 07 November 2010 17:56:34 Kern Sibbald wrote: > 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
Of course. As I said - I do see a point in purchasing support. But not for such small solutions that we are usually implementing for medium sized businesses. Especially if we already have about 5 years of experience with Bacula :) If the website will at some point be outlining benefits of paying for support (or additional features of the enterprise version) a bit more clearly, it will be interesting to overview this thing again though :) Can you please also answer my initial question about that "only for customers" thing? :) -- Silver ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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
