Re: post.office 3.0 is coming
SMPnet ( jmcqueen@smpnet.com )
Thu, 20 Mar 1997 18:01:04 -0500
I've been watching this from afar. Don't really care that much but, it
would appear that it is an issue of #of mailboxes. That way you could
make it affordable for all and upgradeable for all with licensing.
Companies have been doing it for years with little complaints (as long
as it's reasonably priced).
SMPnet
Lee Levitt wrote:
>
> Guys,
>
> Thanks for your comments regarding the pricing of Post.Office. When we
> first introduced the product nobody knew how the industry was going to
> develop. We set the unlimited server pricing model that just about every
> other Internet software company has followed.
>
> We've found, however, that selling 20,000 or 50,000 mailbox mail servers at
> $500 a copy to large ISPs just doesn't make good business sense.
>
> And by the way, I don't know if you've noticed that other server companies
> are raising their prices as well...this *is* a competitive market, but it's
> impossible to stay in business building and supporting servers for 20,000
> users at $500 a copy.
>
> I understand that you've got some concerns about the changes we've made in
> our pricing, but this industry is changing quickly and we've all got to be
>
> able to change along with it. How many of you have changed *your* pricing
> in the past 2 years? How many of you were in this business 2 years ago?
>
> We do believe that our product is one of the best out there...and I haven't
> seen anyone disagree with that. We also have the second largest installed
> base of servers out there, just behind Netscape (and you know where they
> got their server, right? <g>)
>
> In addition, our technical support continues to receive lots of positive
> comments from people like you...and we believe that our tech support
> department is unbeatable.
>
> I understand that you'd like us to keep our product priced low. If we did,
> though, we couldn't afford to continually improve and enhance Post.Office
> and provide the level of support you've gotten over the past several years.
>
> So what do you think is fair? Where do we draw the line between small ISPs,
> for whom cash is tight, and larger ISPs, for whom cash is also tight...but
> they've got a bit more of it...? Should we give our product away to one
> group, but not to another? Help me with the rationale here...
>
> I do appreciate your input and feedback...we want to continue to build
> world class products and work with high quality ISPs such as yourselves...
>
> Further constructive comments appreciated, either on the list or
> private...flames ignored...
>
> Thanks,
>
> Lee
>
> *****************************************************
> Lee Levitt, Director, Business Development
> Lee.Levitt@software.com
> Software.com - The Internet Infrastructure Company (tm)
> Publishers of Post.Office and InterMail
> 91 Hartwell Avenue http://www.software.com
> Lexington, MA 02173
> Phone: 617-274-7000 x 229 Fax: 617-674-1080
> *****************************************************
>
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