Let the SBS 2008 Bashing Begin
Poor SBS, the new version has only just made RC0 and already it is being torn apart by some pretty well know folks in the community.
It is not surprising that Vlad is not fond of SBS, after-all it is in direct opposition to his business model. But to see Stuart Crawford come out against it so soon, is really a shocker.
Sure SBS 2008 will not be for everyone, SBS has never been for everyone. This new version is targeted more than ever before at the diy’er, not even the client that has an IT Pro servicing them is really the target customer. Yes the migration from previous versions is going to be somewhat painful, but truth be told, folks on any version of SBS 2003 are not going to be in a big rush to upgrade anyways and folks on earlier versions than 2003 have already proven they are not willing to spend any more money. So we are back to the folks just starting out in a new business, or those who realised they finally need a server and have not yet realised they need an IT Pro to design their network. The target market for SBS 2008 is the guy ( or gal) who goes down to Costco or Best Buy and picks it up, takes it to the office and tries to build a network around it.
Microsoft is cleary going after the number with this build, but that does not mean SBS is not a good fit for a lot of folks, just different folks from in the past.
But it just seems these guys could hold off the SBS Bashing until it at least ships, hey if they are in the neighborhood they can stop by my house for a glass of cool-aid, everyone tells me I have drank too much myself anyways :>)
June 1st, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Hey now, I’m not bashing SBS 2008 by any means. It’s an incredible product, decent bundle and the price is great.
All I am reflecting at is that there is a change in the marketplace and the SBS 2008 offering is not as compelling as SBS 2003 was because of the many viable alternatives, the maturity of solutions that SBS used to demystify and the extensibility questions that are unanswered - when Exchange 14 comes out, can I upgrade without worrying that it will break everything, what about CRM, what about LOB app XYZ.
It is a great product, it blows 2003 out the water but the world has changed since 2003 as well and solutions like SBS and EBS need to be held to a much higher standard because of it.
That is not bashing..
-Vlad
June 1st, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Well Exchange 14 will most likely break something in SBS, that is one of the things about SBS, it is an integrated package and you can’t haphazardly upgrade individual components.
As for CRM, personally I lost all respect/interest in them when they ditched the SBE version. They are not interested in our market, they would rather SMB clients used the hosted solution. And that is just not my business model.
June 1st, 2008 at 2:32 pm
No comment on Vlad :)
As far as OWN is concerned SBS is not conflicting with our business model and Vlad has been one of the most outspoken promoters of SBS over the years. Quite the contrary, SBS is a huge part of our business model and OWN is probably the largest site deployment of SBS and easilly the largest provider of virtual SBS solutions out there. Have been for years.
We are simply responding to the market demand and market is not demanding SBS or EBS solutions. It costs us a lot to train our staff on multiple solutions and combined with the complexity of migration and SBS scalability limitations we chose not to support it as widely as we have SBS 2003. If the customers are not demanding it and we do not see it as a profitable venture what possible reason would we have to wait for it till it is released in order to make an announcement? We are just giving our partners a heads up, you being one of them (the best!), on what we are seeing and where we are going because thats just the kind of a company we run. You and I both know that servers are not impuse purchases and given the SBS launch date looming we need to draw the lines in the sand and help our partners and clients know where OWN stands as an organization.
Samantha Ellison
samantha@ownwebnow.com
June 1st, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Andy - do u want to contact me and write this up as an OP-ED\sidebar for the next magazine. I am starting to close out June\July right now and your insights would be great. Contact me offline…thanks…harrybbbb
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:18 am
Thankx for the clarity Samantha, as well as being a very happy OWN Partner, I am the king of misunderstanding.
I’ll tell Vlad you deserve a raise for watching his back so closely :>)