Comments on: Cancel your maintenance contracts http://jboye.com/blogpost/cancel-your-maintenance-contracts/ The international community for web and intranet professionals Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:45:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: » Renegotiate your maintenance contracts - J. Boye » Blog http://jboye.com/blogpost/cancel-your-maintenance-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-2916 » Renegotiate your maintenance contracts - J. Boye » Blog Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:06:40 +0000 http://www.jboye.com/?p=808#comment-2916 [...] previously recommended that you cancel your maintenance contracts. This is an effective way to save some money, but also quite risky if you don’t have the [...] [...] previously recommended that you cancel your maintenance contracts. This is an effective way to save some money, but also quite risky if you don’t have the [...]

]]> By: Niels Hartvig http://jboye.com/blogpost/cancel-your-maintenance-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-2134 Niels Hartvig Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:12:24 +0000 http://www.jboye.com/?p=808#comment-2134 > bbruton Nonsense. Maintenance contracts are simply a way to make license costs lower which makes the initial sale easier. The areas that you suggest needs funding is what in any healthy business comes from general sales not by obscure business models made possible by immature and poorly advised buyers. It's only in the IT industry that you can get your customers to PAY for fixing ISSUES that the producer MADE. A technical security hole is *always* the result of bad engineering and as such it aught to be the sole responsibility of the vendor to provide a (free) fix. Niels Hartvig / umbraco.org > bbruton
Nonsense. Maintenance contracts are simply a way to make license costs lower which makes the initial sale easier. The areas that you suggest needs funding is what in any healthy business comes from general sales not by obscure business models made possible by immature and poorly advised buyers.

It’s only in the IT industry that you can get your customers to PAY for fixing ISSUES that the producer MADE. A technical security hole is *always* the result of bad engineering and as such it aught to be the sole responsibility of the vendor to provide a (free) fix.
Niels Hartvig / umbraco.org

]]> By: bbruton http://jboye.com/blogpost/cancel-your-maintenance-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-2132 bbruton Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:59:13 +0000 http://www.jboye.com/?p=808#comment-2132 Canceling software maintenance is a ridiculous proposition and anyone suggesting it as a good idea should be publicly humiliated. For most developers, this is a source of revenue to fund research, security improvements, functional development, and technical enhancement. Anyone paying it is usually entitled support when thing go wrong as well as access to product improvements. It's not to have a vendor call you up and stroke your ego once in a while. How do you propose that developers enhance their software without it? Based on having followed this bad advise, companies will most likely have to pay much much more when they renew should they decide to renew coverage. The idea is typical, corp IT, nonsense. Companies cannot stop doing business when there systems fail. IT provides a service and anyone considering advise to cancel maintenance should consider this. IT folks don't have your companies best interest in mind when they suggest this kind of thing, they have there own... Software is a business, and just like any other non-charitable organization, it requires revenue to keep it going. You obviously have no idea what you're proposing Canceling software maintenance is a ridiculous proposition and anyone suggesting it as a good idea should be publicly humiliated. For most developers, this is a source of revenue to fund research, security improvements, functional development, and technical enhancement. Anyone paying it is usually entitled support when thing go wrong as well as access to product improvements. It’s not to have a vendor call you up and stroke your ego once in a while.

How do you propose that developers enhance their software without it? Based on having followed this bad advise, companies will most likely have to pay much much more when they renew should they decide to renew coverage.

The idea is typical, corp IT, nonsense. Companies cannot stop doing business when there systems fail. IT provides a service and anyone considering advise to cancel maintenance should consider this. IT folks don’t have your companies best interest in mind when they suggest this kind of thing, they have there own…

Software is a business, and just like any other non-charitable organization, it requires revenue to keep it going. You obviously have no idea what you’re proposing

]]> By: J. Boye » Blog Archive » Open Text buys Vignette - What it means to customers http://jboye.com/blogpost/cancel-your-maintenance-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-1074 J. Boye » Blog Archive » Open Text buys Vignette - What it means to customers Fri, 22 May 2009 08:36:06 +0000 http://www.jboye.com/?p=808#comment-1074 [...] poor track record of integrating acquired technologies. Existing customers are expected not to cancel their maintenance contracts, so that the acquisition will make financial sense for Open Text and do not expect Open Text to [...] [...] poor track record of integrating acquired technologies. Existing customers are expected not to cancel their maintenance contracts, so that the acquisition will make financial sense for Open Text and do not expect Open Text to [...]

]]> By: J. Boye » Blog Archive » Autonomy buys Interwoven - What it means for customers http://jboye.com/blogpost/cancel-your-maintenance-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-198 J. Boye » Blog Archive » Autonomy buys Interwoven - What it means for customers Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:49:38 +0000 http://www.jboye.com/?p=808#comment-198 [...] Existing Interwoven customers, residing mostly in the US, should be concerned. UK-based Autonomy does not have a good track record with their acquisitions, despite the fact that their CEO was recently crowned as entrepreneur of the year. The last major release of Interwoven Teamsite was back in 2004 and now might be a good time to consider cancelling the CMS maintenance contract. [...] [...] Existing Interwoven customers, residing mostly in the US, should be concerned. UK-based Autonomy does not have a good track record with their acquisitions, despite the fact that their CEO was recently crowned as entrepreneur of the year. The last major release of Interwoven Teamsite was back in 2004 and now might be a good time to consider cancelling the CMS maintenance contract. [...]

]]> By: Contented Management » How to get better CMS support http://jboye.com/blogpost/cancel-your-maintenance-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-156 Contented Management » How to get better CMS support Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:26:45 +0000 http://www.jboye.com/?p=808#comment-156 [...] Boye recently proposed that you cancel your maintenance contracts in order to save money. But before you think of this as a great money-spinner, there are a number [...] [...] Boye recently proposed that you cancel your maintenance contracts in order to save money. But before you think of this as a great money-spinner, there are a number [...]

]]> By: Composibility http://jboye.com/blogpost/cancel-your-maintenance-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-152 Composibility Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:03:10 +0000 http://www.jboye.com/?p=808#comment-152 <strong>Cancel your software maintenance contract?...</strong> Do you have a support organization that is solid enough to cancel your content systems maintenance contract? ...... Cancel your software maintenance contract?…

Do you have a support organization that is solid enough to cancel your content systems maintenance contract?
……

]]> By: Hartvig http://jboye.com/blogpost/cancel-your-maintenance-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-144 Hartvig Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:43:10 +0000 http://www.jboye.com/?p=808#comment-144 > If we look at ourselves – or Umbraco for that matter Please don't compare Tangora with umbraco in this matter. We take our users very seriously and have spend a big deal of resources making sure that they're able to upgrade between all our versions the past five years. Beyond that we're still committed to security patches to the last two major releases for the ones who don't upgrade. Free of change of course. We're confident that this is what practioners will expect and we're happy to set an above industry average here. > If we look at ourselves – or Umbraco for that matter

Please don’t compare Tangora with umbraco in this matter. We take our users very seriously and have spend a big deal of resources making sure that they’re able to upgrade between all our versions the past five years. Beyond that we’re still committed to security patches to the last two major releases for the ones who don’t upgrade. Free of change of course.

We’re confident that this is what practioners will expect and we’re happy to set an above industry average here.

]]> By: Hartvig http://jboye.com/blogpost/cancel-your-maintenance-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-143 Hartvig Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:31:55 +0000 http://www.jboye.com/?p=808#comment-143 Regarding Microsoft they're still supporting Windows 2000 until 2010, so I guess that's not the comparison you're seeking ;-) If any software vendor believes that it's the best strategy to only supporting the very latest version for vulnerabilities and thereby demanding a "software maintenance contract" for any practioners running critical solutions on their platform, I'm convinced that it's a path to failure as practioners gets smarter at choosing and buying platforms. Software Maintenance contracts are mostly cashcows and is more and more used as an instrument to lower initial pricing on products to keep up in a competitive market. When fear becomes a sales argument it's a pretty clear sign that the going is getting tough, but very ironic to justify a mandatory maintenance contract by saying that the product you're about to buy might be vulnerable - that made my day ;-) Just my $0.02 Regarding Microsoft they’re still supporting Windows 2000 until 2010, so I guess that’s not the comparison you’re seeking ;-)

If any software vendor believes that it’s the best strategy to only supporting the very latest version for vulnerabilities and thereby demanding a “software maintenance contract” for any practioners running critical solutions on their platform, I’m convinced that it’s a path to failure as practioners gets smarter at choosing and buying platforms.

Software Maintenance contracts are mostly cashcows and is more and more used as an instrument to lower initial pricing on products to keep up in a competitive market. When fear becomes a sales argument it’s a pretty clear sign that the going is getting tough, but very ironic to justify a mandatory maintenance contract by saying that the product you’re about to buy might be vulnerable – that made my day ;-)

Just my $0.02

]]> By: Jens Handberg http://jboye.com/blogpost/cancel-your-maintenance-contracts/comment-page-1/#comment-142 Jens Handberg Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:00:32 +0000 http://www.jboye.com/?p=808#comment-142 “When a software product has a vulnerability the responsibility is all on the vendor. Period.” So by that rationale Microsoft should keep fixing Internet Explorer 1.0 on Windows 95 vulnerabilities forever and free of charge, right? Well, they don’t. I believe we have to look at product life cycles to determine when it is possible to phase out support completely. And whether we like it or not, the CMS market is still in its infancy with most products undergoing rapid development cycles, producing many versions within a small timeframe. If we look at ourselves – or Umbraco for that matter – the software have gone through several major releases over the past few years. Microsoft, however, have had only two major Windows releases this millennium. And those are the ones currently being supported by Microsoft. Jens Handberg CEO - Tangora Software A/S “When a software product has a vulnerability the responsibility is all on the vendor. Period.”

So by that rationale Microsoft should keep fixing Internet Explorer 1.0 on Windows 95 vulnerabilities forever and free of charge, right? Well, they don’t. I believe we have to look at product life cycles to determine when it is possible to phase out support completely. And whether we like it or not, the CMS market is still in its infancy with most products undergoing rapid development cycles, producing many versions within a small timeframe. If we look at ourselves – or Umbraco for that matter – the software have gone through several major releases over the past few years. Microsoft, however, have had only two major Windows releases this millennium. And those are the ones currently being supported by Microsoft.

Jens Handberg
CEO – Tangora Software A/S

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