On Thu, 29 Dec 1994 Marc_Mangus @
ccmail .
geoworks .
com wrote:
> We are evaluating it now. It looks like a good package.
> The GUI interface is really nice - I haven't seen any other
> firewall software as easy to use. Now the bad part; the
> manual is so bad they might as well not include one.
Yes, well, the guy who wrote it is neither a system and/or network
administrator, nor anywhere near being a savvy computer user (PC).
Checkpoint made a mistake, but it's a very common one. We can hope
that they will quickly have someone knowledgeable do a thorough
rewrite (if not toss it and start again).
> Also the pricing is arbitrary and not based on value. You
> can pay around $5k if you have less than 50 nodes or $20k if
> you have more.
>
> Since the firewall only "sees" the machines it is
> controlling security on (or the routers) it seems nutty to
> me to base the price this way. It seems to say "we can get
> more money from people with large networks without
> delivering additional value". Just my .02. Again, overall
> it looks like a good package.
WRT "arbitrary" pricing, let's remember that software pricing is a
combination of several important factors:
1. Initial development costs (the developers' hardware/software
infrastructure; "overhead", such as rent, electricity, telephones,
coffee; *salaries*, unless you think that we work `for free' here
in Israeli high-tech, or anywhere else, for that matter)
2. Ongoing/future development costs (same as above) -- and remember:
there aren't any "maintenance" charges for this product, so that
everyone receives product upgrades "for free".
3. All of this is a business, and business is designed to *make money*
(I know it seems crazy, but trust me on this one). Remember the
1980s in Silicon Valley? People *dream* of creating a new product
and being "made an offer that they cannot refuse" by some giant
like Sun... Anybody got "founders' shares"?
WRT "without delivering additional value", try turning it around --
let's hear you say how you got *more* value than you expected/needed
for your money with your small network, and isn't that great?!
Do you only purchase automobiles which have a top-speed of 55mph?
Do you only purchase televisions which receive the channels in *your*
area?
No and no; but do you complain about the "extra" speed or channels
which you can't use?
If you wanna complain about FireWall-1, how about the complete lack
of a curses-based interface for interacting with the program from a
"dumb" terminal, or from within a workstation window?
Just my 6 Agorot ($0.02 in local currency).
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<A HREF="http://www.applicom.co.il/~horen";><EM>Jonathan B. Horen</EM></A>
System/Network Manager Applicom Software Industries
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