Hi Greg and welcome,
I must say I like those ideas for Global warming and having the skin changing like you mentioned - very innovative idea. 
If Comodo were to go down the donate-ware route I belive they may rather approach a range of different charities - maybe different skins for each. 
Mike
This I have to disagree with (sorry)
Doing this would (to me) make it feel as if I “have” to give money… - like I would feel that I am “required” to give money for some cause…
A “DONATION” should be simply that. a donation… No strings attached, no “pressure” of any kind (Inducement in your statement below is a form of “pressure”, as I would feel I am “required” to make a payment)
I would willingly donate $10-15 to Comodo, if I saw a donate button, but to have the type of thing you mention would put me off giving anything in a big way…
PS: hope I wasn’t too ■■■■■■■ you (:WIN)
A word of caution regarding making money from the firewall, the commercial version will have to improve its security features not just leaks before the majority of people decide to pay for it. Although I noticed the reference from matousec.com regarding how well it did on the leak test they also had the following to say about Comodo:
“The implementation of the security design is very superficial. Today’s malware creators would not have problems to bypass the protection of Comodo. The development of this firewall probably missed independent betatesting of its security features because the number and the nature of bugs we have found in it is alarming. This is why we can not recommend Comodo Personal Firewall as a personal firewall solution to anyone who require the real protection against today’s malware. You can see the public information about bugs we found in Comodo Personal Firewall in the following sections below.”
The test was using Ver 2.3.6.81 and I am aware that some of the vulnerabilities have been fixed, however they will all have to be fixed if you want to charge money for the product.
I do use Comodo but I am also behind hardware firewall and I would not mind paying for one if it was much more secure. I have tried many firewalls including ZoneAlarm Pro but it caused to many problems on my computer and ended up removing it. Sygate was the best until Symantec bought it and stopped upgrading and supporting it. So far Comodo has worked without problems and I will use it until something better and more secure comes along that also works on my system. If you want people to buy it including myself it will have to be more secure.
This is my jaded view, but I really think the best bet is the often mentioned PRO version which is downloadable and licensed at no cost, and offering a commercial/enterprise version for a fee.
The differences in the two editions would mainly be the following:
Certifications (FIPS 140-2 support, if it applies)
Active Directory Group Policy plugins
.MSI based installers to allow admins to push out installs with preconfigured response files to machines.
A management console (preferably both in MMC plugin format and standalone) that would allow for one to do enterprise administration tasks, from pushing out new policies, to checking the firewall logs on machines, to printing a report of which machines have what version of the firewall installed.
Longhorn Server support (when it goes release)
Preset enterprise rules (for example, no machine can directly connect to port 25 of any other machine, blocking any spambots.)
An IIS snap-in so it can be admined via the Web, preferably with hooks for both usernames and passwords, Windows authentication, and client certificates (so one can use a hardware token to connect to it via remote). SSL connectivity would be a must.
Internal integrity checks with each module to check for tampering of other modules. This will force a would-be intruder to have to modify each file’s code to bypass.
Self-repairing – if a module gets corrupted or damaged, it can prompt the user to repair itself via the .MSI file.
Patches available via Comodo’s patch server, or an internal one, so a certain version of the enterprise edition can be “certified” in an official build.
Some type of fail-safe system, where if configured, and a module (driver, application) is tampered with, it can notify a central console. This would be an immense help in tracking and stopping the beginnings of malware attacks on an internal network.
Yes, I know these are a lot of features, but this is (IMHO) what enterprises want and need, and will be happy to pay good money per user or device for these. The key is certification (FIPS, etc.) as well as example uses in HIPAA and SOX regulated environments, so people who buy this product can justify to their superiors whose language is regulation compliance and ROI.
Comodo is focusing on the company market, and I think there is a lot of money to be made here, especially with solutions that offer peace of mind to enterprises. A lot of corporate IT departments are very nervous about compliance with regulations like HIPAA, SOX, and others, and any product that eases this will be gratefully appreciated… and purchased.
Hi mlts22
These are really useful insights into for the enterprise market. Thank you very much!
Can we ask you to help us more pls
thank you.
Melih
How about, the seperate products are free but if you want a control panel for all of them, like Internet Security, then you have to pay a little bit
Launch Pad 2?
(end of quoting)
I honestly don’t think that having any added for-pay version, attachments, things, whatever, will really work. The majority of users will probably just go to some place like ProjectW and download a cracked version. I think that the best way to make money off of it would be making it open source. Your lawyer people could make a license saying that no one could make a new product based off it; you’re only allowed to submit new code to Comodo to make it better, which Comodo would review. Then you could plaster it all over sites like SourceForge and put a “Donate To This Project” button on CFP’s website.
I know that you really don’t want to make it open source, considering it’s been suggested numerous times before, but it really could help.
I know, why not just keep it closed source and add a donate button. With a donate system, I really would feel obligated to donate to Comodo if I liked it, and I wouldn’t donate just because I feel like I should. However, if it’s open source, that means that the whole community is helping build it and thus I would feel absolutely no need to donate because it’s not just you working on it. I would then donate just to help keep the project going, which is more money for you to upgrade to the latest Ferrari.
(:WIN)
Also, as an added effect, it would be more secure. Look at Internet Exploiter and Firefox. Which one do you use?
I use both (:LGH)
And so you must have some connection to healthcare in the US, to be throwing out HIPAA like you know what it means… ;D And good to see you “spell” it correctly; seems like most folks don’t. 
Sounds like you have some well-thought out ideas there; thanks for bringing them to the forums. You sure got Melih’s attention!
LM
Legaspeth!
A double spy!
TAR AND FEATHER HIM!
(:KWL)
I guess word of mouth is the best advertisment around. Heard about you through my computer geek. I think your product is great and will tell my friends about it. Good idea to make t-shirts up with your logo and maybe an ask me sign or something like that. I would buy one. Hey I live in Canada and if you can make them I would buy one or even buy a bunch and sell them to my friends for zero profit just to spread the word. Every one likes free stuff, just see what they are giving away free here in Vancouver. You have to watch the news from Global TV Channel 9 here on Tuesday the 27th 2007 to see what I mean. Great job guys and girls keep up the good work… Ron
Greeting to all, and a special hello to Melih,
I am new here and just starting to get introduced to this product, as a matter of fact I will be spending the next few days trying to get this puppy working.
I will admit that I have not read all the pages of this thread, I got worn down somewhere around page six so I might of missed something along the lines of what I am about to suggest, if I did then I apologize. Anyway, here goes.
I have read with great interest the ideas of how to gain revenue from this product. Many of these ideas involve additional expendatures before gaining a return, especially the development of a second product that is same as/similar to the existing product. One possible way to start generating revenue is providing customized installations of existing products on users machines.
I, like so many of the users out there today, spend an ungodly amount of time trying to understand just what a piece of software is trying to tell you. Run a HiJackThis log and see what it tells the majority of users out there, or run a program scan with just about any piece of “protective” software and try to understand what it says. That is where I start running to boards and google searches to see what is really being said.
I would be more than willing to pay a fair price for someone to install, or, oversee the installation of this product and then provide me with an education as to how it works and what I need to watch out for. You could provide all kinds of levels of service that could include remote access (I believe another one of your products), evaluations of logs and reports, and on and on.
I realize that some of these services are provided through boards such as this one, but they only provide limited service by un-compensated people who are nice enough to give up their time and expertise.
The great buzz word today is “customer service” and how people who have paid money for something do not expect to spend a couple of hours on hold and then be talked down to for paying their wages. If I am given something for free, how could I not consider paying for additional benefits that would only make my experience with that product so much better.
This particular model could be applied at all levels of usage, from personal to business, with only the pricing structure being different.
A book, a coffee mug or a tee-shirt would be great, but a piece of software that is designed to work on my machine as it stands would trump all of those things.
If this sounds interesting to you, let me know and I will try to expand my thinking on this.
That was fun, I feel like I am sitting in the Comodo boardroom.
Every user have their voices heard in our boardroom!
Melih
Perhaps you could sell pressed CDs? It could be like a pseudo-donation.
Maybe you could bundle it with a search engine toolbar or something non-invasive.
Hello I’m new in this forum…
however I LOVVVEE comodo my idea is why not offered license (well I know you have it) but If people donate you guys can give little extra… I donate to some software companies like yours and they sent me back serial number and offer me others gooddies… I think people will donate instead buying something. You could generated source income like this … I think??? How about you??? ???
Give me a job;
and I will tell you for free. JK
Cross marketing. I.E. “Comodo Condoms”
Tshirts: “protect your computer and alot more!”
Condoms that promote firewalls and firewalls that promote safe sex.
Its getting late (and there’s a woot-off going), so I’ll have to come back and modify this one. lol
Great idea. All the Universities in New South Wales distribute free condoms through the Students Union and these giveaways are usually sponsored by a large corporation, but they don’t cross brand the condoms, just give away generic branded ones. This would tie in nicely with the concepts of Trust and Security.
ewen
This would tie in nicely with the concepts of Trust and Security.
Exactly. Lots of potential for cross marketing and reaching otherwise unreachable market sectors.
And you reach people other than geeks like me (i.e. people with life’s.) who just read posts all night in a gazillion different forums.
[size=10pt]Comodo Firewall III [/size]for your PC and [size=10pt]Comodo Condoms[/size] for your PP “we gotcha covered”
Ideas (best ones probably 9 & 10)
If you wanna donate, click here (Spybot model)
Charge businesses and not home users.
Condition of download: subscriber details can be sold to third parties (erk - spam alert!)
Find a sponsor or sponsors who are advertised on your site (pay per click)
Buy the product - lifetime upgrades?
Free product - purchase yearly licence?
Charge $1 for all products. Tiz nothing but I reckon you’ll have $100,000 within a reasonable time. What’s a dollar? I’d pay it!!!
Run competitions. $x entry fee $y prize and U earn $z.
Get in eBay’s pocket as a secure on-line transactioner to compete against PayPal. Groovy.
OK. I have to get 10 … hmm
Crikey, hope this helps.
Freakyfied
In order to make money in electronic security, you have to advertise on radio/TV.
Most folks who surf the web have learned to ignore or prevent ad banners and the like from popping in, so advertising on the web is not as productive as people seem to think.
If you want to generate the revenue, you are going to have to advertise to businesses showing that the Comodo family of security is the best way to go. You still have Norton and McAfee to deal with and a couple of others, but I think a SMART side by side comparison chart showing independent test results would get peoples attention. And hey, as dumb as it seems, T-Shirts and hats with logos are a great way to get name recognition.
Just my 2 cents.