A NEW APPROACH

How Can I Help Comodo? (Please We Need You!) Please Tell Us Your Views and Vote Here!
1

This note is specifically aimed at Melih.

We have corresponded before (You sorted out the GESWALL issue for me in your firewall) You also suggested that I do not sit back but get involved. So here goes

I migrated to Comodo from Look n Stop because Comodo is going places its getting a lot of good press (and some not so good)

I am relatively non technical so when I read some of the things in your forum my eyes glaze over with incomprehension. I used Look n Stop because it was relatively simple it had inbuilt rulesets and if you wanted to be really belt & braces you used the Phantom ruleset. Then LnS started to fail these Shields Up type tests as they have evolved in complexity. In short LnS is not keeping up with the development of threats.

Your product is more complex and on many websites and forums gets great acclaim BUT with the caveat, not for beginners.

I do not know your business model or what segments of the market you are aiming for. But it does seem that you are missing out on a huge chunk at the beginner and “emerging knowledge” end of the market.

There is no such thing as a free lunch, somewhere in your business model there has to be a commercial pay back. Which implies volume. In this context there are likely to be more beginners and modestly technical individuals than your relative experts found in the Comodo forums.

So how do you square the circle with a product that currently is a “dabblers dream” complex & technical AND RESOURCE HUNGRY to one that meets the beginners market and modestly knowledgable AND light on resources and meets your commercial requirements.

Why not produce a lite version of Comodo PF one that only installs effectively in Learning Mode. (Thats all I use because I am not confident enough. or knowledgeable to use the other features)

The trade off has to be a dramatic reduction in resources (Less than the 16 mb that you are currently aiming for). Think of of the marketing logic/hype. Best product, absolutely simple, for beginners. Just install and run. Very low on resources.

If thats not possible because you only want to deal with one piece of software, then why not a default install of Learning mode only, with a corresponding dramatic drop in resource useage. With other sections loadable as “add ins” if the client wants more flexibility or user defined approach. But with increased resorce useage as the pay off.

The current danger is that you engineer yourself into a corner of a market just to meet the needs of technophobes.

I am happy for you to tell me to shut up and that I do not know your market. But I thought marketing was a discipline applied with common sense.

Hope this has raised a thought or two.

Terry

ps I am not yet convinced that Comodo is for me because I am not sure I can get the best protection just using Learning mode. There doesn’t seem to be the impetus for someone to come along (either comodo or a forum user) to provide “belt & bracing” with a ready made enhanced ruleset

2

Hi Terry,

as another comodo user have to tell that comodo maybe needs to be a bit simplier for the novice users.

But making it simplier sometimes means to compromise security. The greatest example is norton internet security. The version 2006 is very simple to use, but does it mean it offers the same protection of the versions 2004 and 2005? The answer is no. Instead of instructing the user how to protect himself is leaving every single piece of software to have fully access on internet. An advanced user can check this out and configure it properly to be protected. A novice user is being left at his destiny and hope that the mistakes he will make won’t have a deep impact on his personal data and his wallet.

For me the novice should be advised to come at the forum and little by a little become experts themselves :wink: ;D

3

pandlouk

Thanks for your comments. As always where do you draw the line for compromise. The fact that I am in this forum implies I am trying to understand and learn. But just look around you at all the requests for ever increasing complexity and flexibility. This before the product (Comodo PF) is off the ground. As I said I fear that Comodo may corner itself by just being a little too “technophobic”.

I confess I am fighting my corner. I want more simplicity. That goal achieved is far more worthy, far more likely to achieve a commercial success than appealing only to those who “are in the know” or just want to move on to the next technological challenge.

Look at the way Look n Stop does it. A complete contrast. Its that long before new changes take place that everyone has a chance of understanding the product. Because there is not a blindingly headlong dash for innovation. But as I said in my earlier post L& S is now too slow.

Somewhere in between the two is a more likely to succeed. Finally and perhaps most importantly. If Comodo don’t make a commercial success. They are out of business and we don’t have a firewall.

Regards

Terry

4

Thanks for the post Terry

Just wait and see!

Our grandmothers should be able to use these products! thats our goal!

It should be as simple as that, yet for a techie it should also have all the shiny, spangling features!

We started this not so long ago, we had to make it a good product first. Then the next phase is to make it easier, faster etc.

So we will! I Promise!

Melih

5

You know… in my youth I worked as a cashier in a convenience store, and while I was learning the Cash Register, my boss was never concerned about speed, but rather accuracy… He would always say… “First you get good, then you get fast”… what a fantastic statement… it even works well in the software development lifecycle.
(R)