Where is everyone now?

[Patrick]

I'm guessing the latest Hostbill install is working good since no one really frequents the forums anymore or is it the appearance of strict rules?
I think it was great that everyone was helping each other and i do hope to see everyone around and continue to help each other.

Let me know what the change of communication was.  Be honest, no one will hold it against you

[Lawrence]

Work, work, and more work. Other than that, no change.

is it the appearance of strict rules?

I don't think the rules are strict, I'm open to any opinions if I've crossed any lines with the rules. They are pretty easy though.
- http://www.hostbillforums.com/index.php/topic,5.0.html

[Patrick]

I don't think you have, but some forums, people seem to disappear after rules are enforced to create a little respectfulness.

edit: on any forum

[electric]

I'm guessing the latest Hostbill install is working good since no one really frequents the forums anymore ...

Nope.  My guess is that people aren't frequenting the forums because they are no longer using hostbill.  I think most people who were using hostbill have switched to an alternative software, and so they have no need to discuss hostbill.

After all the stupid decisions Kris has done, and the complete lack of trust he has created, there simply is no reason to continue using hostbill unless you are "vendor-locked" into it for some reason.

Most Hostbill users can simply move their "one or two dozen" customers to a different billing system in a matter of minutes.  So why would they stay and continue using hostbill and risk their business with certain eventual death?

[tallship]

Work, work, and more work. Other than that, no change.

For the most part, me too

Nope.  My guess is that people aren't frequenting the forums because they are no longer using hostbill.  I think most people who were using hostbill have switched to an alternative software, and so they have no need to discuss hostbill.

Prolly another good reason. There's a small marketplace brewing right now here. I've even put out a bid for HostBill in that thread licenses for, IMO, more than it's currently worth.

In the meantime, we've been migrating user databases over just in case kbkp goes dead sooner than expected, so as to minimize impact on our operations. It's a hassle, which hopefully won't be worth the trouble (Yet another reason to despise kbkp - making us spend money in man hours to plan for the shutdown of their operations). I hope that doesn't happen - at least not soon, but I'm planning for the worst and expecting... well, not quite the best, just hoping their operations don't shut down until after we've abandoned the software like everyone else appears to be doing.

[CBlade]

I give up to buy hostbill, dont worth that price for an "almost-scam" business model, im trying now with blesta, but...

[nibb]

To be honest, I think most people are moving away or plan so, so they don´t want to invest their time discussing it anymore.

1. How many countless hours users spend in the hostbill forums? Posting features, bugs, etc. Its all gone....

I would love a forum where users are active, and Kris just wiped that in one click away. Time is money and most users are probably pretty mad just because of this disrespect.

2. Also, the constant changes and bad vibe Hostbill is sending, does not make people happy to talk about a product. They are not excited, neither happy, neither are enjoying it. Just look at most posts in this forums? They are frustrated users.

My guess is that ones still using it are the ones talking here. Some users even keep using the software because they thought after all, they can develop features for it, or expand it and then Kris suddenly shut down third party developers. It seems he wants to have 100% full control and it would not amaze if suddenly the API is then gone as well. This was the last strobe for most users.

To be honest, I think allot but allot of people jumped back to whmcs, and others are looking further into Blesta.

Even here, I know there are allot of people that plan that way. Now, the only thing that worries me with that software, is slow development, but I can live with that, if its open to custom development and external parties. Something which Hostbill seems to be closing, it tries to be more and more closed, even stupid features and bugs which I could fix myself with 1 line of code or one word I can´t do it because everything is encoded.

To be fair, I think most of us here posting, are amazingly stupid to keep up with all this pain. Im suffering, I know some of you are as well. I suffer for making a bad choice. For spending money in the wrong product, from moving away from something that was working fine. From spending my time in something which I believe was the future in hosting billing systems. I suffer each day because I don´t know how long hostbill will last like this. I suffer because I care for my business and I don´t know when will be the day that his decisions will start to affect my business. I also suffer because I will have to do a new migration to a new software eventually.

[iso99]

Most people, I believe, are preparing for their exit strategy from HB.

[Lawrence]

Most people, I believe, are preparing for their exit strategy from HB.

I don't think most are, but I do believe the most influential ones and big players in the market are.

@Nibb, always well said.

[iso99]

Do you think the clients listed in HB's client page are also doing a billing system move? I'm curious if they are still proud with HB seeing that they granted HB with testimonials. I'm also curious how they are feeling right now with all the changes. If they are big companies, can they keep up with KBKP's ...uhm, craziness?... I mean, $75 tech support ticket, closed dev support, maybe future modules will be sold separately. I'm really curious how the whole story will proceed.

[nibb]

Do you think the clients listed in HB's client page are also doing a billing system move? I'm curious if they are still proud with HB seeing that they granted HB with testimonials. I'm also curious how they are feeling right now with all the changes. If they are big companies, can they keep up with KBKP's ...uhm, craziness?... I mean, $75 tech support ticket, closed dev support, maybe future modules will be sold separately. I'm really curious how the whole story will proceed.

I assume some of this big companies are still their piggy bank, once they move out, I think hostbill will be in deep financial problems. I don´t think this brands are to happy to be advertised by them since you don´t want association with bad brands. Usually the idea of displaying brands all together is to acquire brand transfer reputation, I think that is how its called in marketing. In this case its the opposite effect, so it would be actually damaging this brands since the hostbill brand is almost destroyed with all the bad feedback on the Internet, caused by the owners changes without even notifications or communications.

We don´t know what the big brands do, maybe they are going custom, or maybe they are just moving back to what ever they used before Hostbill because lets not forget all this companies are way longer around than hostbill, so its not like they need hostbill to survive, they had other solutions before it. And my guess they are also planning some exit strategy. Now it seems as well that most modules went up from 99$ to 199$

So its not like he stopped with his changes. He is trying, he is trying on all fronts to see what works as income sources, and so far he tested almost everything, its very clear to me that hostbill is going bankrupt. His constant changes on licenses, and prices, trying to rip off the software and squeeze money from where its possible, shows someone desperate for money.

Its seems he is suffering from his own actions. In the Internet once your brand or reputation is damaged, is almost impossible to recover, he made sure to kill it in a few months to the point of almost no return back. Most people do a Google search, at least people that buy this type of software. Business, that can actually pay this prices, do not even buy like that, they only buy after researching several options and making a deep investigation on the product, they call, email, search references, etc, and once they find all.

[ezpnet]

I assume some of this big companies are still their piggy bank

How are they his piggybank? They are likely just like us, paying a whopping $45 or less per year. Where is his revenue coming from? Is anyone really buying the useless license for $500 or $999 and then spending an additional $1-2k on the plugins he is offering piecemeal now?

[nibb]

Probably paying 75$ for each support ticket or monthly support. Don´t forget that hostbill had monthly priority support which was monthly paid and some of this companies had.

They also probably pay to get bug fixes or custom development, probably in desperation because they have no other way around, at least until they move. Regardless of how big a company is, they are not stupid and they will not spend money in something they don´t need. So im sure some of them are considering very seriously to move to another software for the simple reason that its not productive to use a software that only you and other 5 people use. The more people use a software the more bugs are reported, security issues reported, etc, its gets more stable with use.

So even if this companies are big, I don´t think they would feel comfortable using something nobody wants.

[ezpnet]

Probably paying 75$ for each support ticket or monthly support. Don´t forget that hostbill had monthly priority support which was monthly paid and some of this companies had.

They also probably pay to get bug fixes or custom development, probably in desperation because they have no other way around, at least until they move. Regardless of how big a company is, they are not stupid and they will not spend money in something they don´t need. So im sure some of them are considering very seriously to move to another software for the simple reason that its not productive to use a software that only you and other 5 people use. The more people use a software the more bugs are reported, security issues reported, etc, its gets more stable with use.

So even if this companies are big, I don´t think they would feel comfortable using something nobody wants.

Well, even if we assume everyone of the companies on the Clients page are paying $100/m for support... that's only about $1000/m. I think that's his problem, that hostbill was priced too cheaply and now he has no monthly recurring revenues.

[bemerson]

I am one of the clients listed on his page with a logo. I've spent much more money on custom development with the hostbill team than on licenses & support. I can also tell you I like his new business model of catering to higher-end clients. I have no problem paying a premium fee for premium software and support. After all, the billing & support system is the lifeblood of your business. Doesn't it make sense to invest in it?