Need your ideas about how Comodo can generate revenue from free products! :-)

[Guest]

[frdasd]

We can create a payment system like Paypal and call it "Comodollar" :-)


Melih

Offer this great product to the ISP's. They in turn can educate their customers and offer this easily to use but very accurate product. Most users are scared to death of a fire wall. But your product is so easily to install and easier to use that it is just what most users are looking for.

[damian205]

I think you are close!
We would like to have an enterprise version for central management and charge for that component. So enterprises can still use the firewall for free but to manage them all etc, they need to buy the central management module.

What would you suggest that we add to make it super duper extra spiffy model? I want to give our users the best possible for free so I don't know what I could add to make it extra feature (as far as firewall is concerned) to get peopel want to buy the extra version.

Melih

I have 4 children and they are all connected to the internet. I would pay to be able to manage all their firewall settings from my desktop.

[damian205]

How about trying to be included in the GooglePack. Symantec are in there at the moment and their paid for software sucks.

[panic]

I have 4 children and they are all connected to the internet. I would pay to be able to manage all their firewall settings from my desktop.

Hey Melih,

I hate to be the one to say "I told you so" but .......   

ewen :-)

[Melih]

Hey Melih,

I hate to be the one to say "I told you so" but .......   

ewen :-)

yes interesting :-)

Melih

[steadyguy]

Hi All,
         on the ISP idea company's like ntl/Telewest, they have Netguard which is as usefull as a chocalate teapot. There's 4 million customers. Sky who are just getting Broadband off the ground.You only need one really big one others will follow.
                   George  (WCF8)

[searchlight]

Hi Melih:

       I think if your tech people designed a module that gave people more specific information on an "unknown process" that your firewall or anti-virus detected that they did not recognize, then people might be willing to pay a small fee for an additional feature that would supply them with a detailed definition in immediate real-time rather than search for the information on the internet.

       Of course, on the other hand if you built that into cav or cpf for free, it would make the products even more popular.

       Hope this helps

     

[bruce kennedy]

Hello.
I have been in marketing for 40 years.
I have been active in Compuserve Computer Forums, Atari, Mac, PC since 1982.
I was a director with the 30,000 member Boston Computer Society in the 90's.
I was co-founder for one of their Mac chapters in Rhode Island.
I am willing to help.
I have had some difficulty implementing your download with an AMD TURION 64 Compaq laptop.
I had to kill the installation in order to access my email and internet connection.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Bruce Kennedy
Canton OHIO Mac2Mug.org

[limpinlou]

I am aware of your SSL certificate product(s).  I think that providing a world class firewall/antivirus/antimalware product has a wonderful potential to bring your name to many previously unfamiliar with your product.  Verisign is a very common name, & it would be difficult to compete from the position of an unknown.  I think you should get your product tested by the major PC & geek sites (Tom's hardware, Anand tech, Major Geek, etc).  Also, don't forget the college market.  When you help students, they remember when they get those six figure IT jobs!  Oh yeah, don't forget the magazine & reviewing sites (PC World, CNET, etc).

LOU

[gderreck]

This is an interesting discussion. I agree that going free and pro defeats all you have been saying about free desktop usage. You will create 2 levels of users. Furthermore, how do you hamper development of the free product so that you can show an enhanced pro version. You will require 2 development streams. If you go enerprise, do you have the contacts and human resources to go after symantec, checkpoint, etc? I agree with charging for a centralized mangement system. You may wish to look at the prevx1 family control center for home/home office use (say, up to 4 computers).  It is internet based, and the user can set policies, view activity and distribute policies on the licensed workstations. Using the web, you can design a control center without the cost of redesigning the product itself; and design as much complexity into it as you wish a t minimal cost. Furthermore, updates to an internet based control system would be much less costly to produce, and the distribution costs would be marginal. The administrator comes to you. Unlike prevx, I would suggest you create an https sight for security purposes. I have no idea of the additional costs of creating that type of site. However the administrator must be protected during use, and the database must be protected from hackers. This way you can create a multiuser subscription based central command center for the user of a limited number of machines.

As I stated above, and I say this without knowledge of how connected you are; how do you get into the enterprise business up against the 800 pound gorillas? If you wish to go that route, I suggest you start by designing the system with local administrator (as opposed to internet) control. I don't belive large users would tolerate their policies in anybody elses database. Put a back end on the software that will allow an adiministrator to set policies on the current interface, and roll them out to the machines in the back end you have created. The client machines would have a crippled version of the program with minimal options. The administrator version would be similar to the current version with a back end which allows configuration to be sent to individual machines, groups, or the entire network. Start by offering this to public institutions and charities at a very reasonable price. Once you have a better feel for the requirements of large institutions, create an enterprise version, using the happy users of the non-profit/public institution/educational,etc; as references. This plus a dollar will get you 3 ounces of beer, but there you go.

Good luck and keep up the good work.

Having taken a better look at your website, I would say you are well connected. Please forgive the uninformed remark above.

[sjjose]

Melih,

We've been discussing this at work and the general consensus seems to be that ZA have got the model right with their ZA Freeware and ZA Pro.

Offer the products, as they are, as freeware, but offer heavier versions as commercial products. I don't mean cripple what we've got now, but any super-duper enhancements in the pipeline could be offered as a paid product that added to the existing products.

If multiple enhancements were offered and the benefits over the base product were clearly outlined, then customers could build their Comodo products to suit their environment and their wallet.

What do you think?
Ewen :-)
 (WCF3)

i dont think thats a good idea..look at zonealarm..in an effort to make the paid version better,the free version is crap now..it crashes and certainly fail leaktests at startup and shutdown(i mean it..see for urself)

[comicfan2000]

    Hi all, I am new here and just dropped ZA like a hot potato for Comodo.  I am a regular on Cnet, won weekly Q&As many times etc...so I am not new to technology, just this forum. Before I give my idea, I do want to say I wish I had turned to Comodo far before, it's an excellent firewall, simply the best in my eyes. I would manually check what goes in and out of my pc, ports, etc...when used ZA (since not real trustworthy) and Comodo keeps check better than the others, this I guarantee. 

   Now, for my idea...Since having a ZA approach doesn't seem appropriate, how about creating a Ccleaner (type) not Ccleaner itself, application with say, spyware blaster type software, rolled into one. If you register Comodo, you get this for 9.99 or something. Instead of say 19.99.  The trick would be marketing. Even an excellent software isn't excellent if no one knows about it.  Give out a trial, but not one that can be keyed, it would have to be an absolute limited trial. Another trick is to make it absolutely different, cool to use, colorful but yet, GOOD. This is the generation of different, something new all the time, whether some would agree or not.  You know, many want a GOOD icon maker for their pcs, or how about "firewall blockercons" when something is blocked, you get different animated icons to pop up also, like a cloud with lighting , you know. Although that may cheapen the software.  As far as the spyware\cleaner goes, with Comodo being so good, how great could the spyware\cleaner be? Very I would guess. Ok. I understand you want to keep this free and I admire and wish the best but it is more than challenging to keep anything going free. I know, strike a deal with MS. Their firewall stinks, let this one come packaged with Windows for a small price to MS or OEM's.  See, it comes packaged with Comodo for 30 days, and all you need to do is register, but the OEM pays you for this flashy little symbol on the PC box saying, FREE firewall , free after registry, etc...and many will say, ooooh.  While this whole scenario is very hard to fix, i'm sure something will come up. And after using this firewall, just ask, i'm there.


  Paul

 

 

[SeaMatt]

  At first glance your product seems too inexpensive to be effective. Time will tell.
One possible way to augment value is through integration. Making all the products individually free but offered at low cost if integrated into a smooth super application is one way. Integrate ALL your products into a suite for which there is a charge. Sell this product a three pronged manual. 1. Define each feature and capability- the usual HELP function. 2. Provide a training by picture and sound presentation- used for canned promotional material but very good for introductions. 3. Provide custom "situation-action-result" senarios that show a step-by-step method to problem solve- used by HP in many of their manuals for applications. All three complement one another and ideally need to be cross linked.
Good luck I want to see you succeed.  Cal

[kymystic]

Make a compromise.    Offer Comodo firewall for free for say 3 months and then charge a small fee of say $15 for the lifetime firewall.  After people see how good the firewall is, most people would not have to much of a problem coughing up $15.   Or give the firewall free then charge a small fee to add the anti-virus and verification engine.  Also make it easy to purchase by using either cc and paypal.   I've used a lot of different firewalls and anti-virus programs, both free and purchased, and personally I think Comodo is better than the rest.   Also I think the Comodo Verification Engine is great for online consumer protection.  That in itself would easily be worth $15.  Anyway I wish you luck, I really like your products.

 

[Melih]

ok, Getting ISPs to offer our products is a good way of getting the word out there!

The question is: How can the Comodo community help?
We all have ISPs, why don't we get in touch with them all explaining to them about Comodo and ask them to promote Comodo and we will help them.

what do you think?
Melih

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