Well Lookie Here, Barracuda Networks tries to get me to fall into their trap again...

[nanog2 at adns.net (John Palmer (NANOG Acct))]

Actually, the unit still works as an e-mail filter. You can still access the Barracuda "reputation" list with it
and it does SPF and Baysian filtering still.  It also lets you configure black lists and other RBLs as well, so
it still has utility. The thing that you don't get is updated SPAM and virus defs as well as updated software
for the machine.

Someone mentioned the fact that if the hardware is still working, then the renewal policy is reasonable since
the machine still works. May I remind that person that Barracuda charges you for the hardware AND also
the subscriptions to the spam and virus defs.

If they provided the hardware for free, then I would agree with him about the renewal policy, but its NOT free.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Thomas" <mike at mtcc.com>
To: "Jon Lewis" <jlewis at lewis.org>
Cc: <nanog at nanog.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 1:22 PM
Subject: Re: Well Lookie Here, Barracuda Networks tries to get me to fall into their trap again...


> On 12/22/2011 11:07 AM, Jon Lewis wrote:
>> On Thu, 22 Dec 2011, Michael Thomas wrote:
>>
>>> At that point why should they sell iron at all? Seems like you get
>>> all of the downside of owning the iron, and all of the downside of
>>> paying for a cloud based service. Either you own what you own,
>>> or you pay for service that somebody else provides. This "you
>>> bought useless hardware unless you pay up" is really what's
>>> infuriating.
>>
>> Presumably, Barracuda's hardware is i386/i686 compatible commodity parts. It's probably not at all "useless".  Just attach a USB 
>> DVD drive or USB flash drive, wipe the disk(s) and install your favorite Linux distro.
>> It may take some doing to get all/most of the features Barracuda provides setup on your own...but if you don't have the 
>> time/expertise to do it, that's why companies like Barracuda exist.
>
> If the spam filter stop working, it's presumably a pretty useless thing
> as a... spam filtering device which is presumably why most people are
> buying barracuda boxen. I suppose my larger point is that this is why
> companies like postini exist. At least there you know that if you don't
> pay the bill, mail stops flowing altogether much like any other service.
> It's this "I paid for the hardware, but I don't really own what I paid for"
> state that seems to stick in people's craw. Or maybe if they just leased
> the box it would be more clear what their business model was.
>
> Mike
>
>