Wednesday, July 29

Can't really compete against Free

About a month ago a company contacted me about this "great" product they were selling on a subscription basis that let you compile all sorts of information from servers and users computers that allowed you to see if the computers were up to date, space on the HD, and other little tidbits like that.

I said, cool, but it sounds just like a free product that I have used in the past.

They said, Oh, we've never heard of this product, let me get back to you on that. (They wanted 2 to 5 dollars a month per computer/server.)

They got back to me after checking it out and said, oh, well yeah, that is a lot like what we have, but here are some differences. And proceeded to layout some differences, all of which I thought weren't really selling points over the free product I had used in the past. (Spiceworks)

They showed me a demo and then left me alone. This morning I got an email from the CEO of the company (ClearBlueSecurity) telling me that they were now offering their product for free. (@epiktetus FREE?!)

I thought that was rather funny considering Spiceworks is free, and a month after I told them about it ClearBlueSecurity went free as well. Huh... sorry to destroy your business model guys.

P.s. I whole-heartedly endorse Spiceworks. It is a great tool for any IT department. (Which is why I keep linking to it.) ClearBlueSecurity... errr not so much. They have a ways to go before they get close to Spiceworks.

~B.

8 comments:

  1. So Ben, I'm looking for some free network management/monitoring software. Any suggestions?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9:26 PM

    Yes! FREE!

    Ian: I would suggest looking into Spiceworks. It's free.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So I looked at Spiceworks, but I couldn't tell how much it costs! It couldn't be free could it?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous6:57 AM

    Yes! FREE!

    ReplyDelete
  5. But, wait, how much is shipping? And surely there's some kind of tax.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous11:17 AM

    No shipping, NO TAX! It's FREE!

    (ISP, Servers, Desktops, Network Hardware, and trained IT staff all sold separately and are required to run this software.)

    ~B.

    ReplyDelete

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