On Fri, 4 Aug 2000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Absolutely correct, not everything is commercial, but when you are on the
> other side of the fence recommending product, organizations kind of frown
> when you recommend not yet commercially available software
Funnily enough, I've never had this trouble, from 40 person companies to
multi-billion dollar corporations. I've installed more than my fair share
of Open Source systems in security or e-mail gateway roles after giving
the intended recipient the "This isn't commercial software" speech.
Shrink-wrap EULA's have pretty much killed the "nobody to blame or sue"
argument, per-seat Microsoft licensing has made small business
less-than-likely to pick that choice over free for equivalent
functionality...
I'll admit to not pointing out the change in mail gateway software for
tens of thousands of users was to the second pre-release alpha version
when I did that swap though- but it held up much better than the
downstream commercial alternative.
> > > 5. Magazines actually can be sent eval copies of the software/hardware and
> > > actually write some critique about it, not having this, or having this, or
> > > can't do packet dis-assembly, etc.
> >
> >Sorry, you're *honestly* saying there's value to magazine reviews??????
>
> Some magzines have value. Because CIO's read them, after they drool and
> froth at the mouth, they sometimes shoot an email message off to IT or
> Security, to get that vendor in so that they can hear the Snake Oil schpeal.
If your CIO has to direct you to find a product, I'll assert that you're
not doing your job well at all. Magazine reviews of security products
almost *never* focus on how well those products perform a security
function (security testing is difficult, expensive and never
comprehensive.) I'd never choose a core INFOSEC infrastructure component
that way, and having seen the "death by management intervention" method of
product selection, I'd rather not go there either.
YMMV.
Paul
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Paul D. Robertson "My statements in this message are personal opinions
[EMAIL PROTECTED] which may have no basis whatsoever in fact."
PSB#9280
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