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What kind of ODBC hook? Are you looking to
run it off of another database? What does
your client need?
You could always put your own ODBC datasource in
place, and have database changes trigger SmarterMail API calls...effectively
keeping SmarterMail in sync with the separate database.
Darin.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 8:10 PM
Subject: Re: [IMail Forum] Some thoughts on Ipswitch
one thing I don't see on smartermail is an odbc hook? We only
have one client that actually uses this so it won't pose a
problem.
Bill
Jeffery Rehm wrote:
I've switched to SmarterMail and have been happy
with the switch. I get quick, accurate answers to my
inquiries, it's inexpensive and it works.
-----
Original Message -----
Sent:
Tuesday, April 05, 2005 17:51
Subject:
[IMail Forum] Some thoughts on Ipswitch
While 8.2 seems to finally start addressing some functional
improvements that are commonly sought after by IMail's users, I'm far from
accepting of the company's new direction.
My last service agreement
expired earlier this year. For that service agreement I got squat, in
fact I got burned. The only releases that came out were minor version
releases that are generally available without the service agreement. I
never contacted support during that year. Then to top things off,
Ipswitch violated the terms of my service agreement by killing IMail as a
product, and introducing IMail as a part of a much, much more expensive
bundling of existing products that I never asked for or desired. While
the company somewhat backtracked from this decision to completely shelve
IMail as a stand-alone product, they still refuse to sell IMail to the
public and one can't build a business counting on them to deliver what is
clearly within their means. So we were all faced with an increase in a
service agreement by some 40% over what it was previously increased to, and
a product that you couldn't count on buying or upgrading in the
future. They even had the gall to state that they were not sure as to
whether or not a new Web messaging client would be provided to us plebes
that had service agreements but weren't using ICS. It's clear as day
that Ipswitch is only selling service agreements because they saw the
opportunity to extract money from their existing customer base, yet when
those decisions were made, it was also clear as day that they had no
intention of abandoning their desires to become a major player in the
collaborative software sector and migrating not just those of us that were
willing, but giving us a choice or being willing and staying by migrating to
ICS and the expenses that go along with it, or leaving.
If Ipswitch
wants to turn this boat around they need to do four things from my
perspective:
1) Fire those that forced the abandonment of their IMail
customer base in favor of the pipe dream of becoming a major collaborative
player. If not for the fact that these people are creeps that have
very little regard for their customers, then for the fact that they are
ruining the business.
2) Sell IMail publically as a stand-alone,
unbundled product as was the case before.
3) Reorganize so that
they can produce quality software for less money, and therefore compete at
the pricing points that the rest of the industry is following ($695 for a
service agreement is absolutely ridiculous, and probably breaks the
elasticity of demand in addition to costing them a ton of
goodwill).
4) Continue improving the core product so that it can
compete more readily with other solutions on the market. Following
multiple notable improvements in 8.2 this will include scrapping their
outdated and very problematic Web mail interface for a modern solution
that utilizes IIS.
Others around here might be more
diplomatic, but I'm quite sure that at least in part, this is what the
majority of us are thinking. Ipswitch might make some inroads by
attempting some or parts of these things, but they will never earn back the
goodwill that existed before the changes were made last
year.
Matt
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