Re: Recording slow scans

[Eric Budke <budke () budke com>]

At 08:59 PM 10/15/98 +1000, Darren Reed wrote:
> I expect Marus will reply to this in due course, but I'd like to throw in
> some comments too.
>
> In some email I received from Donald Martin, sie wrote:
> [...]
> > The client expressed an interest and I immediately contacted MJR via email
> > to ask about a commercial license.  The response was, that I could try NFR,
> > play with it a bit, possibly write some agents and such and if the client
> > wanted to purchase the product, I'd have to contact a certified NFR agency.
> > I asked, of course "How much does it cost to get certified?".
> >
> > Here is my point... NFR is not free.  It costs money to become a certified
> > installer or to purchase the product for commercial use.
>
> What is the problem here ?  For you to become a "certified installed"
> requires someone spending time training you.  That time isn't going to be
> free.  There may be other elements which are a part of the cost but that
> is one to remember.
>
> As for needing to pay $$ for commercial use, somehow NFR needs to make some
> money to fund the actual project of buliding the tool.  If someone doesn't
> buy it then NFR will go down the tube and you will have no NFR product
> either.  Commercial reality.

I think some sort of point was missed here, and again, I can't talk for
grey, yet I'm trying to.  From my perspective, he seems to express that he
would be more than happy to pay for a commercial version of NFR, he's
choking on the costs of becoming a certified reseller.  I understand the
training issue etc.  But I can go to NAI and purchase Gauntlet and install
it for some client.  I happen to have gone to a training program, it wasn't
worth the time (personal circumstances had me admining one for 2 years
before I knew there was a class, for me it was redundant, but I had free
time and was hoping to get more out of it).  I can go to Axent and buy
Raptor or go to a reseller and buy it, no training needed.  I believe I can
do this with Checkpoint as well, just never had a need to.  

Maybe this is what the misunderstanding of grey's is.  That he can go
purchase it from a VAR and then go install it for his client.  It seems
that there was not a problem of paying for NFR itself.  But obviously there
are some companies that have a lot more capital to pay for training, and to
send their people to training than others.  The small guys don't usually
have this luxury.  

Personally, I hope to finally get a chance to play with the product.  I've
only been saying I would for the past 6-9 mos.  When I feel I'm proficient
enough, I'll probably talk to my company about becoming a reseller (if we
aren't by then anyway).  They will probably pay the costs.  I guess that's
a side benefit of being at a large company.

I also think that it is stupid that these companies don't get licensed
versions of the software.  I know some things are hard to control,
especially as you move to desktops, but for most applications (and I don't
know what the pricing for NFR is) the software ends up costing a lot less
than the consultants or hours you spend getting it into finished shape.

That said, I can see an argument by NFR that they made an agreement with
their VARs, that in return for forking over the cash to get certified,
we'll give you exclusive rights at selling it and your services.  For the
short term, this may work (and I'm not an expert on startups or the
software industry) but I think that if NFR is to take off, this would need
to stop, and NFR would be resalable by pretty much anyone (meaning not just
certified places send in checks to NFR every month, but everyone does.)

If I've misinterpreted the NFR reselling, please correct me.  I think I was
under a similar impression to grey's.  I hadn't researched it enough though
to know how one becomes a reseller.
-Eric
--
PGP Key can be found at http://www.panix.com/~budke/pgp/budke_budke_com.txt