Bring ClearCloud Back Petition

I disagree that CC won't be brought back because of Norton. It was not that long ago that Norton finally started adding options to their DNS product which make it usable for some people- report false positives, being able to over ride a blocked site, etc. There's probably a general rule of thumb that the larger the company, the slower they are to act on adding new features to a product.

I am not sure if CC is part of VIPRE or not. If it is, then there would seem to be little added cost in providing the service as a stand alone for a single customer. I personally think there would be a market niche for a DNS service that was feature rich and had the ability to block ads, trackers, etc. But the people at GFI certainly have more info to work with than I do.

Norton and Comodo have enough negative publicity that many people will stay away from their products just because of the name brand. As far as OpenDNS, it seems pretty limited, even in the paid products.

 

Have you ever used it? Are you saying no due to personal experiences, or simply a no, just for the sake of it?

I also don't understand the no, and then the together. Are you being sarcastic about the no? Meaning you're in favor of it?

Most of these same users wouldn't be using any sort of security either, if it weren't for the computer shops, friends or relatives (specially the last two). A DNS service is not any different, in my opinion.

If we were to think that way, would services such as OpenDNS/others exist for this long? Somehow, I doubt that a company like Symantec would be willing to lose money with its DNS service, if they saw it that way. Just my way of thinking, obviously.

 

Well, all I can say is that I'm deeply humbled by the support for ClearCloud shown on this forum. I honestly had no idea it was so popular.

I don't know if I can revive it, but if there's a way, I'll certainly look into it. No promises.

Thanks all,

Alex Eckelberry
General Manager, GFI Security
alexe (at) gfi.com

 

Way to go....

"A loss leader or leader[1] is a product sold at a low price (at cost or below cost)[2] to stimulate other profitable sales."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader

 

My vote would be for ClearCloud.
When I read they were discontinuing it, I didn't want to wait around,
and went straight for an alternative.
If Alex Eckelberry can revive ClearCloud, that would be outstanding.

 

right!

most of the people i know only research into security is to buy the shiniest box they can fin at Wallmart in the Conputer department.

but you're right, even as a niche market DNS service providers probably a few millions users.
it still is a lot of potential for money making.

 

I would happily pay a small yearly fee, or a larger one-time amount, if ClearCloud DNS was developed into a better product than Norton DNS.

 

At least you are thinking about it and that counts for me. .

Thanks.

 

In this case the products have about the same level of capabilities (E.G. Norton DNS compared to ClearCloud DNS). Paying for one when the other offers about the same level of protection wouldn't make sense to the average user. If one was CLEARLY superior in the sense that it offered something like 30% increased detection compared to the other then paying for it would be a no-brainer.

Norton is a large corporation and can afford to have projects like Norton DNS running while they are developing their main stream products. GFI would be considering what is best for their company.

GFI would have done a cost analysis and felt that it would be more cost effective if ClearCloud was just incorporated into some of their own main products such as Vipre AV/AV Premium. This was the logic they applied behind their decision to stop the free Sunbelt Firewall development.

That all being said I have enjoyed using ClearCloud in the past and do hope that it's development is revived. I would gladly pay a 'reasonable' subscription fee to support development of it but other users might not do the same. I would suggest using social networks such as facebook to boost its popularity first then announce that it is out of the beta phase and have a monthly/yearly subscription fee.

ClearCloud is an effective product and if it was actively developed it could perhaps incorporate content filtering features similar to OpenDNS combined with the malicious website filtering it currently does. People sometimes have link checkers installed on their computers but it makes more sense to use a DNS service like ClearCloud as it will prevent access to any malicious websites completely rather than just informing that the website is potentially bad.

 

@ Duradel

My question is still the same. Why would someone buy for example Norton when Avira, Avast, AVG, Outpost, Comodo, Blink personal etc... are for free? You can even build your own tailored layered Internet security using different free security products.

If you can answer that question, then and only then you would understand my point of view about CC.

Thanks.

 

I indirectly answered that in my previous statement. If one product has a clear advantage over another then people are willing to pay/pay more for the use of it. People will pay/pay more if they believe they are getting additional value for what they are paying for. If one product offers the same protection as another product but the second product has additional features, people will be willing to offer more for the use of that product. E.G. Open Office compared to Microsoft Office.

Several standard computer users purchase security products based on the results of reviews from third party companies, through word of mouth or advice from security professionals. The majority of average users more than likely stick with whatever security suite was installed on their computer when they purchased it until told otherwise.

 

Wow, just the possibility that a "comeback" might be possible makes me .
After reading the bad news a few days ago, switched to Norton but found
that Norton is not a good replacement for CCloud, in my opinion. I am using
my ISPs own DNS at the moment but will switch back to your DNS service
as soon as you say the words that we like to hear .
Think about the loss leader thing mentioned by Tarnak, CCloud is a perfect
example of a GREAT loss leader.


Bo

 

Would it be possible to start a thread to see what features people want in a DNS service? That way you could see if some of the wants are financially feasible. It's a way to stay ahead of some of the other DNS services.

 

I think the reason people buy Norton instead of using a free av such as Avast, Avira and AVG can involve several reasons. A paid product is perceived by many as better than a free one. Actually there are probably a lot of people who think the more expensive an av the better it is.

But IMO the real issue is choice. If one major product is available the decision is "do I want the product or not?" ...when two or more products are involved the question can be "which of these do I want?' There are several marketing techniques involved in this regard. For instance, you may be interested in buying a new car and there are two available on the car lot. One is $20k and has hardly any features while the other is $22.5K and is loaded. They are next to each other in the lot on purpose- that is to make people ask "which of these do I want more?" and secondly the loaded one is such a better buy that it is an obvious choice. Plus, you better buy it today because it's such a good buy it will be gone tomorrow. There is a reason all the mustard is kept in one area of a grocery store- and it's not just to make all the mustard easier to find. It's about giving the impression that one brand is a much better buy than the others. So the question of "do I need mustard?" is skipped and the question becomes "which jar of mustard do I want?" Some brands that never sell are left on the shelf just for the purpose of positively influencing the better buy to be purchased.

When products that have sold well are examined closely there is usually a competitor brand as competition. McAfee made hundreds of millions just because they were an alternative to Norton for years. Same for Coke and Pepsi, etc. You have to get beyond the question of "do I need this product" and get to "which of these do I want?"

I would suggest that ClearCloud offer a paid and free version with the paid version limited to, say, for instance, 100,000 seats. That gives people a choice between a free model or a more feature rich paid version. Plus it gives the impression of limited availability which increases the value of the product.

I'm a baseball fan. There's a reason that new stadiums are smaller than the ones they replaced. It's not about not being able to fill up a larger stadium. It's about creating the perception of scarcity which increases season ticket sales.

 

Thanks for your suggestion. I wish Alex could really pounder on our advice to him regarding ways to make CC financially viable.

 

In short, yes I've been using CC until I read the announcement on this forum. Yes, I liked it. BUT IT WAS FREE. As long as it's free, it's OK. I don't like into being fooled into subscribing into their Vipre's product. There are other solutions. Norton DNS is what I'm using along BITDEFENDER TRAFFIC LIGHT, but attention users while Norton DNS actually doesn't affect your download speed, TRAFFIC LIGHT does.

 

I don't agree with the argument that CC shouldn't be brought back simply because there are others to choose from. That's like saying we only need a handful of AV and AM companies. In the end, we ourselves would lose because very few companies means very few chances to compete. However, CC will, in my opinion, have to do much better than "send us an email" every time a site is blocked. Wilders folks might have that patience and willingness to help, but not Joe Schmoe.

That means have an option to bypass the block ourselves, and have manpower to watch over things. Something the big pocket people might not sign onto. As far as a petition at Wilders, well, good luck with that. In the grand scheme of things, the few people that "sign" it, mean little. It's the overall benefit to the company that the big pockets care about.

A lifetime subscription might work for a company that has plenty else to make money from, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Lifetime subs are usually suicidal (Yes, Sandboxie and a few others, blah blah..come talk to me again about it in another couple of years, to see where it stands). If they did an advertising model, people would holler at them. If they did a monthly subscription, people would holler at them (But Norton does it for free!)..see where I'm going?

It's not some big shocker it's being dropped, it's business whether any of us like it or not. No little petition on a website is going to change that if the powers don't want it to. Sorry to be all doom and gloom, but things are what they are.

 

Not just here, see Sunbelt forum:
http://supportforums.sunbeltsoftware.com/messageview.aspx?catid=79&threadid=7977&enterthread=y

Never used CC myself, but reading here it appears to be terrific.
Oh, if we could only resurrect Sunbelt firewall any chance?

 

It would be nice to either have a "preview" of the blocked site or be able to proceed to the site with scripts disabled. Then after proceeding, scripting can be re-enabled if we believe the site is a false positive...at least options similar to this. The DNS would need to work in conjunction with the browser I suppose- maybe a plug in or BHO?

 

You're idea isn't all that bad, actually..for us. But you want Joe Schmoe to deal with scripts? He'll just think "My websites doesn't work anymore, the heck with CC!". I know I'm sounding like I'm coming up with every reason in the world to keep CC dead, but really I just have dealt with enough people to know how they see these things. I don't know, obviously it has to be financially successful for the company to reconsider it. They're not going to bring it back because a few hobbyists at Wilders and one dude at Sunbelts' forums tells them to.

I just have no idea what they'd do that would separate the product from Vipre, make money, and keep people satisfied at the same time. We'll see I guess.

 

I post to add to the appeal for keeping ClearCloud running. I've been using it for a number of months and have recommended it to others. They are now using it too. The news that the service is to be discontinued has disappointed us all. We hope there can be a change of heart on the closure.

 

I would most definitely pay a yearly fee as you've suggested to be able to keep using ClearCloud.

 

+1 I hope ClearCloud DNS won,t die

 

Same here, ClearCloud is/was the best.

 

If you like cc then u will love vipre
Its not free, but there are no free lunch