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

[Guest]

[Júštiñ™]

Thats a great idea, then maybe they will start trying the Comodo products themselves and if they like it maybe they will buy Comodo SSL High Assurance Certificates, and other products for business.

[pandlouk]

Melih have you thought of making a VOIP program? I think that a lot of comodo users use Voip to comunicate with their friends and their family. I would be glad to use a comodo Voip instead of Skype or voipbuster and maybe other members would like to use it also . I think that it could be a nice revenue from the users that like your free products and want to support you.

[Melih]

Melih have you thought of making a VOIP program? I think that a lot of comodo users use Voip to comunicate with their friends and their family. I would be glad to use a comodo Voip instead of Skype or voipbuster and maybe other members would like to use it also . I think that it could be a nice revenue from the users that like your free products and want to support you.

it does not fit into security and trust bracket i am afraid..

Melih

[Arkangyal]

it does not fit into security and trust bracket i am afraid..

Melih

What about social engineering?

[pandlouk]

it does not fit into security and trust bracket i am afraid..

Melih

Yes it doesn't; but it fits with your product line of comodo meet and trustfax 

[Melih]

Yes it doesn't; but it fits with your product line of comodo meet and trustfax 

Yes you could be right there! It fits into the Communication and collabration arm of the company.

Melih

[ALinNJ]

Allow users to sell their "products" on the side of the screen. When a sale is made. Comodo gets a 2-3% commission like Ebay and everybody wins! When peoople on Ebay find out, many will want to have Comodo!

[Secander]

Hi Comodo

Here's a crazy Idea. The one thing I hate about buying any software is in one year you have to pay to keep gettting the updates. I would gladly pay you for your Personal firewall if I could get un-limited updates and never have to re-new. The same with any soft-ware you make,
never have to re-new. Combine this policy with the finest product available. you folks would make a killing. kick it around at the office.

sign Comodo fan!
Secander

[Eagle4Z]

Another avenue might be a free client and a commercial  package that integrates with a router's NAT...Each router manufacturer integrates firewall protection as part of the router package.....there is a two fold sales opportunity....one to the manufacturer and one as an add-on to existing router capabilities....

I am not an expert in this security area, but it seems to me that if you looked or made a list of the current capabilities or lack there of of various routers you would see pretty quickly if there is any viability to this idea...

Hope it helps !!!

Eagle4Z

And yes I would buy a tee shirt if I liked the design......

[LQuintino]

Hi,
I installed the firewall yesterdaywhile searching for something simple, effective and free( very difficult). Until now it seems to be pretty good and I appreciate the quality, FREE programs.
I agree with the questionaire idea above. Taking monthly anonimous questionaires seems like a good trade. Info is a vital thing today and the free products can give you access to it. Providing that privacy is always uphold. Also montlhy reporting of the activities of the programs ( how many attacks, bugs, etc..) will help you improve the products. But generating good, simple, reliable, effective and free end user products will help you gain a good image. Furthermore good, simple, reliable corporate programs will help you to grow.
Congrats

All the Best
Luís

[NightRider]

I agree with some of the writers of using a system like ZA , or having what  Shalik have for enterprises were if you do not buy a licence for your network, it reverts back to only a few users(3). An addition to think about which I have seen recently on another firewall is a vulnerablity checker, but also allow it to download patches needed to increase the security of the computer.

[mike6688]

Hi,

What do you think about making the apps skinable and to support add ons.  New skins / themes could be brought for say 50p and you could have add ons which you sell which changes the functionality.

What do you think?

Mike

[1nf3s73d]

I'm going out on a limb here
I here
zone alarm free / pro
mozilla /firefox /thunderbird merchandising (or how ever it's spelled )
google toolbar
ebay pay to play
ebay skype
pay for a manual???
some heavy hitter vpn, server / client base stuff
so her goes
secure web hosting (trustix windows based)
virtual data storage monthly subscribtion
paid tech support both chat, phone, email (online forum free)
since you guys are only about an hour away from me I'm sure you guy's know internet cafe's are big between NJ/NY/PA/Conn offer internet cafe with stationary pc's and b.y.o. laptops introduce new client to trustix / comodo (on win pc's) especially NYC Philly and possibly Boston A/C
you make money from
the internet cafe
introduce your product to new clientel (especially business owners) in a real world environment
get people to spread the word of comodo
then there is the tried and true
trustix for pc / soho
or should I say small business end lindows/walmart pc
only difference try to commercialize yourself (ie through a poor man's cdw / newegg)

[hungryghost]

I'm new here, just poking around trying to get some info on some issues I've had with the firewall (which is great BTW ... just need to iron out a few things).

Anyway, here are some thoughts on how Comodo can make money from their free firewall product:

1) Develop "extension" packages or "plug-ins" that can be bought to add functionality that falls outside of the strict firewall category.  What I'm thinking is something along the lines of parental control software.  There's already a separate product category for that in the marketplace, but to me (admitted lay person), this seems like something a traditional client firewall product could be extended to support.  This idea was alluded to by another user who said they'd pay for a management console that could control their kid's computers on their home network.  To me, this sounds like parental control software that would enforce a list of blocked IP Addresses on the client machines.  I think this would be a great way to make money on the firewall, without crippling the free version.

2) My second idea has to do with selling "trust" instead of actual software.  I initially thought of this idea awhile back for how Microsoft could make money off their free Windows Firewall.  Basically, my idea is to generate revenue by charging software vendors for Comodo Certifications or something similar.  Comodo could sell some sort of "Seal of Approval" that software companies could use in their advertising to show how "clean" and trust-worthy their software products are.  This approach would require a few things first:

a) Critical Mass - The most important thing for this to work is Comodo's Firewall and brand awareness needs wide market penetration.  No software company would pay for a certification that's not recognized by the consumers.  For Microsoft, this would be a no-brainer since they already have the brand awareness and they'll have incredible worldwide distribution by virtue of their next OS release. (This also brings up similiarities to Microsoft's hardware driver certifications that began with Windows 2000, although the program wasn't for revenue purposes ... at least not directly).

b) Marketing - Since Comodo is not Microsoft, there would need to be a significant investment in order to reach the critical mass of distribution and brand awareness.  Maybe there could be some partnerships signed with some of the big names out there such as Google or various ISPs like AOL or the telecoms.

c) Trust - In order for consumers to trust a Comodo certification or seal of approval, there would need to be very strict certification requirements.  I think that software would need to pass some well defined tests in order to qualify.  These tests would evaluate whether or not the software contained any spyware, trojans, etc.  The specifications would need to be very detailed and unambiguous and available to the general public.  The software would be evaluated by Comodo's labs and if it passes, it would qualify for the certification.  That company would then be allowed to purchase / license Comodo's Seal of Approval (service mark) for their advertisments.  Since the software could be updated by the company after the evaluation, there would be a large penality or fine if they subsequently added spyware, etc. to the product.

d) Additional Certification Benefits - For qualifying companies that purchase / license the Seal of Approval ... Besides being able to use the seal in their ads, their software would be flagged with a special status in Comodo's firewall.  This status could be used to automatically add their software to the safe or "trusted" list.

Ok, I'm getting carried away with post.  I'll just end this here by saying that I think this idea (the second one) could work, but only if there were some MAJOR deals made to get Comodo's firewall distributed onto many, many computers.  Absent that, I think it would takes years of organic growth to reach the critical mass required for this to be profitable.

[xavdeman]

Provide support directly from Comodo at a small cost.
But keep the forums free. People who want 24/7 professional support can pay and get it.

[Tags:]