Christian, Since IPSwitch is continuing to update IMail for ICS please explain why a reasonable continuing support fee for IMail for current IMail users can not be established.
If IPSwitch wants to discontinue direct sales of IMail only in favor of an ICS only product ok that would be another discussion. In other words IMail as a single product may or may not be available (future purchases must be ICS or another product) but support for current users could be continued indefinately under a support plan for legacy IMail users. This would allow IPSwitch to move to the ICS platform without wholesale abandoning the current IMail customer base Since IPSwitch is still developing IMail as a main part of ICS why drop a sizeable user base that could provide valuable information for future ICS development? Unless of course part of the plan is to force the current IMail user base to the new product to generate new revenue and to get higher support fees. However on the support fee issue most have stated that some modification (reasonable increase, e-mail only support, per incident costs and so on) to the current IMail support plan could be workable. Simply put: 1) Why can't a legacy support program exist for a product that will be continue to be developed ? 2) Is IPSwitch saying that of the 2000+ annual support cost for ICS that most of the support will be for the IMail component only and very little for the the other ICS components ? or Reasonable support costs for IMail only can't be determined? Stu At 09:10 AM 10/28/2004 -0500, you wrote: >But Christian, once the current service agreement expires (ours expires in >January 2005), we *cannot* renew it unless we crossgrade to ICS. We cannot >renew it for IMail alone. That's the issue! >----- >Tom Pepper > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Christian Lawson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 8:25 AM >Subject: RE: [IMail Forum] Cross-grade concerns addressed (NEW SVC AGREEMENT >PRICES) > > >I think it's important to note that IMail has not been discontinued. It has >not reached the end of its life; it is not 'dead'. We >will still be developing IMail; mostly for ICS users, but even those without >ICS who have a service agreement will be able to obtain >these releases. The only thing we have discontinued is the ability to >purchase IMail by itself. If we release twelve major >upgrades to IMail between now and October 2005, people who purchase ICS will >get them all, people who have an 'IMail-only' service >agreement will get them all. There are no plans to stop supporting or >working on IMail. > >I hope this clears up the confusion I've seen about this topic. > >Have a good one, >Christian > >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Martin Schaible >Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 6:29 PM >To: John Tolmachoff (Lists) >Subject: Re: [IMail Forum] Cross-grade concerns addressed (NEW SVC AGREEMENT >PRICES) > >Hi John, > >Ipswitch did not confirm, that *major* upgrades for IMail will be available, >or did I miss >something? > > >============================================ >Am Mittwoch, 27. Oktober 2004 um 22:53 schrieben Sie: > >> Scott, I need to respond to a couple ofinaccuracies here in fairness to >Ipswitch: > >> > >> 1. The service agreement is not moneywasted per se, in that there is going >to be >> another update in the works.Further, in your circumstances, your SA >appears to be good >> until 08/05, whichis in your next fiscal budget, so where does "selling >the >> out-of-budgetprice hikes to my boss" come into play? > >> > >> John Tolmachoff > >> Engineer/Consultant/Owner > >> eServices For You > > >> > >> -----Original Message----- >> >From:[EMAIL PROTECTED]:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >tch.com] OnBehalf Of Scott Fisher >> Sent:Wednesday, October 27, 20041:18 PM >> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Subject: Re: [IMail Forum]Cross-grade concerns addressed (NEW SVC >AGREEMENT PRICES) > >> > >> From a 175 employee business prospective: these thingsabout the ICS switch >bother me: > > >> > > >> 1. I work on a fiscal budget of July to June. I've hadno advance warning >of the >> changes, and have no way to budget for the upgradeprices even if I did >want it. My price >> going from $495 to $2495 ... 5x theprice is a big jump. And frankly you >aren't giving me >> much ammunition to gosell the out-of-budget price hikes to my boss. > > >> Add to the fact, I bought my service agreement in lateAugust and there is >going to be >> no major upgrade for this service agreement. Ihaven't called for support >and I probably >> won't. So I'll consider the serviceagreement money wasted. > > >> > > >> 2. I can understand why you aren't making money on theService >Agreements... I paid >> slightly over $300 for mine through a reseller.Take his profit out and you >are getting >> what $250-$275 for any ServiceAgreements sold through resellers. I really >didn't have a >> problem with the$495, but I could easily find a much cheaper price. >Perhaps if you >> stoppedselling the Service Agreements through resellers, service >agreements could be >> arevenue stream. > > >> > > >> 3. Imail has always been offered on an a la cartebasis. You buy the Imail >system, >> and you could add the anti-virus option, thefax option, the better webmail >option. I >> think this sales method wasappreciated. Now to roll it all into one >bundle, and make >> many people pay foritems they don't want is pretty unfair. For me the >Declude Anti-Virus >> andDeclude Junkmail add-ons were one of the major reasons I choose Imail. >So 2 ofyour 5 >> bullet points (spam protection and virus protection) for ICS, I >wouldn'twant and would >> personally consider to be a downgrade to my protection level ifI was using >them. The >> fact alone that I would be forced to pay for products Iwouldn't use is >mighty >> distasteful. > > >> If the product and price was right, I would consider acollaboration >add-on, although >> I like many others were led to believe that thiswould be part of the next >Imail upgrade. > > >> I haven't seen a lot of clamoring for the instant messagingoption either. >I don't have any interest in it at this point. > > >> > > >> 4. If the support is becoming a financial burden,separate the service >agreement into >> two parts. One part the upgrade assurancewould allow continued access to >minor upgrade >> and next releases. Add a Supportagreement option for 8x5 and possibly a >more expensive >> 24x7 option. Orbetter yet, paid support over the phone. But if I'm paying >for support >> itbetter be good and by this I mean not somebody in an IndianCallCenter >reading offa >> script. Again, I've never called support, so I can't comment on your >phonesupport. I >> have used e-mail support once and I got the answer I needed prettyquickly. > > >> I'd consider the $495 to be a fair price for the upgradeassurance option >> bought solely through Ipswitch (remember point 2 andthe real costs of the >service >> agreement). Many of us regularly pay items likethis. > > >> > > >> I like Imail and want Ipswitch to stay around and getbetter. I wish >questions >> like"what would be a fair price for such an agreement?" would have >beenthought of and >> asked before the firestorm. > > > > > > > > >============================================ > >-- > >Mit freundlichen Gr�ssen > >-------------------------------------------- >Merlin Consulting >Martin Schaible >Bahnhofstrasse 27 >CH-8702 Zollikon > >Phone: +41 1 391 30 00 >Fax: +41 1 391 32 49 > >Mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >URL: http://www.merlinconsulting.ch >Support: http://support.merlinconsulting.ch > >GPS: N47 20.235 E8 34.226 >-------------------------------------------- >News - Neue Produkte: > >.:. Kiwi Syslog Monitor >.:. Paessler GmbH >.:. Sawmill Loganalyzer >-------------------------------------------- > > > > >To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html >List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ >Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/ > > >To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html >List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ >Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/ > > > > >To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html >List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ >Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/ > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CSOnline Technical Support Normal hours - Monday thru Saturday 8am - 10pm CSOnline Technical Support Numbers Seneca 814-677-2447 Clarion 814-227-3638 Cochranton 814-425-1696 Parker 724-399-1158 GremLan 814-337-7060 http://www.csonline.net http://www.cshowcase.com http://www.learncenter.com http://www.gremlan.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- To Unsubscribe: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/mailing-lists.html List Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/imail_forum%40list.ipswitch.com/ Knowledge Base/FAQ: http://www.ipswitch.com/support/IMail/
