Showing entries 1 to 6
Displaying posts with tag: subscription (reset)
Economy up or down, can open source come out on top?

We’ve written about how a bad economy is indeed good for open source software. We’ve also recognized that with open source software’s maturity and place at the enterprise software table, a bad economy can be a double-edged sword for open source since the failure or fade of large enterprise customers, say big banks, hurts open source vendors right alongside traditional software providers.

What is interesting is that after a couple of years of economic rebuilding, we’ve seen recently how open source is being driven by innovation, particularly in cloud computing, …

[Read more]
MySQL Enterprise Backup 3.5, the crash course

Every ones loves hands-on tutorials with code snippets and stuff to establish the knowledge that something can be done. So here is my first one; MySQL Enterprise Backup 3.5. The new and shiny backup solution for MySQL. Our clients, for a long time, are asking for an enterprise ready, stable, safe, quick, easy, feature rich, [...]

What is open core licensing (and what isn’t) UPDATED

This is an updated version of a post that was originally published in July 2009. It has been updated in response to ongoing confusion about open core licensing.

There has been a significant amount of interest in the open core licensing strategy since Andrew Lampitt articulated it and its benefits for combining open source and closed source licensing.

There remains considerable confusion about exactly what the open core licensing strategy is, however, which is strange since the term arrived fully packaged with a specific definition, courtesy of Andrew. Recently I have begun to wonder whether many of the people that use the term open core regularly have even read Andrew’s …

[Read more]
100% subscription renewal

I’m happy to note (this is internal Open Query happiness but I’m pleased to share) that so far we have a 100% renewal rate for our Proactive Services for MySQL subscriptions. Some of the early clients have grown in the initial period and are have now moved to a higher # of hours (this can also be changed upward during a term), which is of course excellent both for the clients and for us.

I was in eager anticipation of this time since the introduction of the concept late last year, as it is of course the essential proof of whether a subscription service actually works over time. Ideally, you’d want renewal to be a simple straightforward process, with the client having experienced the value of the service. This is relatively straightforward in this case, since it’s not an insurance, emergency or retainer type arrangement – the client actually gets benefits each and …

[Read more]
On Value and Cost - part 1

Did you know that by banging your head against the wall you burn about 150 calories per hour? However, there are more effective and less painful ways to exercise (no surprise there). Personally, I like an early morning walk and playing some Wii games around lunch time.

Most companies aim towards high(er) value offerings, sold at a higher price, so that their margin increases. Right?
But what they're actually doing is desperately trying to outrun their own high (and escalating) cost structure. I ask you this: why should a client have to pay for inefficiencies in a provider's organisation? Also, why says that a higher value offering needs to a) be priced higher and b) have a higher profit margin?

This is not the unavoidable way of things, but the reason it's the usual is that you can't just decide to change one aspect (such as a higher value offering), yet keep the way the company is run the same, and then still …

[Read more]
Review/support scope of MySQL server infrastructure

Many systems are already in production when we get asked to take a look or, interestingly, a few weeks before deployment. The latter is not optimal, but it's still better than not contacting us until something goes wrong. At Open Query we like to focus on problem prevention and skills transfer. This saves so many hassles and thus over time saves money for the client = win.

The reasons for asking for external input late(r) are diverse, and generally not even technical or financial. But we all know the saying "prevention is better than a cure" and that has benefits for a company's bottom line; potentially even its future. Particularly in the current economic climate, such advantages are gold.

Another other important aspect is scope. MySQL operates in a larger architecture; we can look at the server and improve the configuration there, but if queries are just wrong, they need to be fixed in the application. …

[Read more]
Showing entries 1 to 6