Status on OptiGold re-write?

Hi Shawn,

Any progress update on the OptiGold re-write?

TIA.

 

Should I take the lack of a reply as an ominous sign?

 

As you know, I'm as big a fan of OptiGold as they come, but we (my hosting/colo business) can't hang in limbo forever for a new version that may never come -- we really, really need to migrate to a web-based system with a SQL back-end for many, many reasons, and are simply looking for some sort of direction. We are willing to wait it out provided we have reasonable assurance that a) it is still being actively worked on and b) it will be finished at some point in the next 12-24 months. I respect the "It is finished when its finished" mantra that you have adopted, but some communication on the topic is certainly warranted as it has been well over a year since your original "Future of OptiGold ISP" post.

 

I have to chime in here and agree that it would be nice to see something - even a little bone about how things are going what kind of exciting things are on the table. I'd love to here if things like interfacing with the DirectAdmin (http://www.directadmin.com) API and other Control Panel APIs are in the cards. The 'whats new' section of the old OG software hasn't even been updated since 2/2005 - and that makes the software look dead, frankly. I also am ok with the 'it's done when it's done' concept, but surely within the last year you have some information you can share? You must have chosen a platform and started developement by now? no? yes?

 

The "done when its done" is what I tell my 6 year old. This is an essential buisiess tool that either makes or breaks buisinesses. All the other Large ISP's have made huge advancements in their billing/provisioning systems in the past year and it becomes hard to compet when your at the mercy of someone that says "It's done when it's done". I also know from taling to another ISP that I associate with, you have started to sell licenses in blocks of 500.

Is our product coming to an EOL, and your trying to get every penny you can out of it? This makes me feel treated very unfairly as this option was not available 12 months ago.

I suppose this is the end of my rant, But when I bought Optigold I thought it was a superior product because of the support and the developer. Those beliefs have been long lost. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with a $2000.00 investment that looks and I have no reason to beleive otherwise has no future support or development .

I think it might be time to develop something new. Has anyone built something that they are willing to share? Freeware? commercial? portable, expandible, mysql based?

I'm taking a look at MS CRM 3.0, its expandible enough, I may be able to make somethingout of it.

 

Yes, I'm seriously starting to catch some Heat about Optigold and it's future, it's been stagnant for the past year, we need to buy some more licenses soon as well. I'd hate to go through the hassle of a migration to another billing system, but this no communication on the status of the product isn't helping me in my struggle to keep Optigold in place, at some point we will have to make the decision to find something else.

Frankly if Sparklogic(optiskin) doesn't know what's up with it, I'm very concerned that it is a dead product.

 

I agree with all........ this nonsense about "done when done" is unacceptable as a business model. It does not allow for my company to plan for the future. And Optigold is getting rapidly left behind.
I think it is nothing short of courteous to at least provide some expectation.
I am sure there are a significant number of us who like Opigold but time stands still for no man........ and a business decision by many of us will soon have to be made ........ much to the detriment of Optigold and to the delight of other software providers...... we are actively looking at this point....

 

I understand that its done when its done. However, the total lack of *any* information at all enabling us to plan is forcing me to move from OptiGold. Contrast this lack of information with ModernBill (http://www.modernbill.com). Have a look at the forums and just look at the difference.

I get the impression, from all my various dealings with Digital Point, that OptiGold is not that serious an occupation for them - its a product in decline - and that's fair enough. I would respect their decision if they decided they were not going to develop it any more, its a commercial decision only they can make. They could, however, have the good grace to tall us whats going on, so we could plan for the future.

All we're asking for is common courtesy. A bit of respect.

A.

 

It may be that Shawn has simply decided to EOL the product -- every indication points that way thus far. If that is the case, a little bit of communication would be nice. We've already started looking around at other packages, which is a rather daunting process with the heavy investment we have in OptiGold already. So far, the only real contender is Platypus, which was bought by TUCOWS recently (they've added OpenSRS integration which is nice, as well as a PHP version of the web interface). Since the data is in SQL, getting access to it (which is one of my main gripes re: OG) is trivial..

 

I'm looking at the same options - I would appreciate your opinions on packages you've evaluated...

I thought platypus looked good, but very expensive, whilst ModernBill looks to be very feature complete, holds all its data in MySQL (hence making access to the data easy, one of my key requirements also), and seems much, much more affordable than platypus. In order to get the right level of functionality for support, I think you need to get Kayako which integrates with it - in the same way Wombat does with platypus.

What did you spot that was wrong with MB that I've missed?

A.

 

It is probably best to take this off-line as I don't consider it good form to discuss competing products on the forum. I'll send you a PM to discuss further.

 

I think it is pretty obvious from various goings-on that the
product is EOL'd, or there's simply a lack of interest at
Digital Point for continuing on with the product.

Witness the:
... numerous posts from people trying to reach the
company without phones being answered or e-mails being
returned.

... numerous posts from people with licensing issues
and/or requests, where nothing happens for weeks, they
post a message, Shawn says send it again, and magically
they get the e-mail that time.

... a single, terse reply to this thread, without even so much
as an apology. Something along the lines of "Gosh I'm sorry
folks, I don't have an update. I appreciate some of you have
been loyal customers for a long time, and we truly value
your business, stick with us, I promise when we're done it
will be worth it." would go so far in making folks feel better.

I don't feel at all comfortable with the situation. Fortunately,
we sold the majority of our ISP business, so we have a very
low reliance on Opti right now.

 

On the flip side of the coin, we depend on Optigold extensivly throuhought our wireless, dsl and dial-up customer base. We paid $2000.00 for software that has virtually no road to improvement. If there is no re-write, just say so, Shawn, yes your bussy in all your google add forums and such, but we PAID for your software. and WE are due for some type of timeframe or commitment. Your selling your licenses in blocks of 500 users now, instead of the manditory 1000, you are dificult to get a response form other than the "it willl be done when it's done", and the key issue process is a joke too... Send 10 e-mails for keys, then someone posts that they never recieved a key and viola! you say, "oh, what address did you send it to?" and POP there it is in an email to the customer. Your companies reputation is diminishing severely.

So how long has it been now? a year? a year and 1/2? come on, how about a little devotion to the people that have spent thousands of dollars with you, not a free add revenue board.

Zack

 

I am pretty close to going that route, though their interface is very clumbsy IMHO. We already use it for our wireless business because it can actually provision our customers Motorolla gear, set service levels, disable them, set up MAC authentication/RADIUS, etc... Very seamless. Just ugly as hell... I'd really like to continue with OG.

 

Hey everyone, it's actually been 2 years in March since the "redevelopment from scratch" was announced.

I've already tried to get a reply multiple times.... either he's just waiting and being rude and then will announce this glorious new version that does everything and makes you a turkey sandwich after each invoice run or he's just touching the surface of alienating his customer base by not telling whats going on (ie EOL). Either way, these no info until release or no info at all response shows contempt towards us as customers.

Jon Hiller
OWC

 

MAYBE, If we keep this thread going and get some more of OG paid users (those who handed out 2K + for this software), The group concensus may persuade a more forthcoming answer to the status of the product. Programing isn't as easy as some may think (I being a developer myself), but coming on 2 years since the decision to re-write to a new platform, with no timeline, is far from acceptional.

 

At this point, I think we all just need to consider the new Optigold as vaporware that will never be released.

I'm looking at Modernbill and Agilebill as replacements.

 

Maybe, I just check this frum every couple months and cross my fingers. Hope the waiting will be worth it.

 

You may want to start looking at other billing softwar products - we now have, as its very difficult not getting support on a 2-$3,000 investment that you rely daily on. It holds up billing, which is critical to any business, and when that happens you better make a move in another direction or no money comes in the door when it needs to.