[BlueOnyx:15159] Re: BlueOnyx Professional/Enterprise Edition

[Michael Stauber]

Hi Christoph,

> There is now a new item under "Software Updates" named "BlueOnyx Shop". 
> Some customers interepreted the two "Test products" shown on this 
> frontpage as a sign that the BlueOnyx base system will be changing from 
> free and open source to a subscription based platform which did raise a 
> few eyebrows.

No, BlueOnyx will continue to be available free of charge in both it's
current form and future versions such as 520XR.

Due to public demand we will soon also be offering rental models of
bundles that contain both the free BlueOnyx and a selection of
commercial add-ons.

As it is right now people can get the free BlueOnyx and can choose if
they want to purchase our commercial add-ons. These commercial add-ons
are available with or without subscription to updates.

That won't change either.

However, purchasing a certain number of add-ons can quickly create a
large initial cost of ownership. Which usually is unattractive in ISP
scenario where IPS's want to offer BlueOnyx plus add-ons to clients. If
the client only rents a BlueOnyx server plus commercial add-ons for a
short period, the ISP will be sitting on the costs for the add-ons.

Likewise, the initial costs of purchase of commercial add-ons might seem
unattractive to new BlueOnyx users, as they might not yet have decided
if BlueOnyx suits their operational needs.

To address these issues we plan to offer two new bundles in a rental
model: BlueOnyx Professional (which will include a small selection of
commonly chosen add-ons) and BlueOnyx Enterprise (which will include
each and any item available for BlueOnyx). Both will be available in a
"pay as you go" fashion with modest monthly payments and the contract
can be terminated at any time without specifying a reason. As long as
the subscription runs, the users will have access to the specified
commercial add-ons (and their updates) via NewLinQ. If the user
terminate the contract, the add-ons will stop working as soon as the
last paid for month comes to an end (plus a small grace period to cover
for accidentally missed payments).

So we're not going to take anything away. We're just offering an
alternative way of obtaining add-ons: Rental instead of purchase.

-- 
With best regards

Michael Stauber