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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">We could also contract the pilot out to
an external company, with them being the "Official Support
Partner" and see how it goes. Of course there are also some legal
things to take care of, but this would save us the need to
bootstrap the whole support team.<br>
<br>
I think its a bit early to get into concrete discussions about
Thunderbird Pro, there are a few things we need to set up within
the Thunderbird Council before we can do a such thing. If we do
get to that point, I might have an interested company at hands.
Despite the unfortunate circumstances its nice to see that there
is a need for paid support.<br>
<br>
Philipp<br>
<br>
<br>
On 6/17/15 2:34 PM, Axel Grude wrote:<br>
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<pre wrap="">I imagine it would need hundreds/thousand of people (going by the number of users) and not just volunteers</pre>
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<br>
I think it would be difficult to get off the ground, and
obviously it would have to be "paid support". The problem is
there are no initial funds to:<br>
<br>
1) do market research whether it would be feasible - [how many
users would commit to pay how much for a maintenance contract]<br>
2) invest in a paid startup team to grow a support base. You
would have to start with a small number of users as a "Pilot
scheme" in order to make it feasible. You would also need some
legal provisions to indemnify against effects of possible data
loss like in the example. not easy.<br>
<br>
You would need a paid subscription model that could be tied to a
Thunderbird "premium"or "business" license, and the prices of
that could would probably be initially high and could drop given
large scale adoption. One thing the mentioned "support" company
obviously forgot was to locally back up the user's email before
doing any modifications.<br>
<br>
Axel<br>
<br>
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<b>Subject:</b> Re: Fwd: Recent Experience with people
misrepresenting themselves asofficial Thunderbird<br>
<b>To:</b> Axel Grude (Axel) <a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:axel.grude@gmail.com"><axel.grude@gmail.com></a>,
Tb-planning <a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:tb-planning@mozilla.org"><tb-planning@mozilla.org></a>
<br>
<b>From: </b>Aceman<br>
<b>Sent: </b>Wednesday, 17/06/2015 09:30:36 09:30 GMT ST
+0100 [Week 24]<br>
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id="mid_20150617103036_485ABB04_atlas_sk"
cite="mid:20150617103036.485ABB04@atlas.sk" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Hi.
I think we all agree there would be market for support of TB and it was proposed at the last TB summit and rkent again confirmed the idea with the email today.
The problem is we do not see how we would have enough people to offer such a support. E.g. I imagine it would need hundreds/thousand of people (going by the number of users) and not just volunteers, but people obligated to provide the work at determined quality/time guarantees as it would be a paid service.
aceman
______________________________________________________________
> Od: "Axel Grude (Axel)" <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:axel.grude@gmail.com"><axel.grude@gmail.com></a>
> Komu: <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:tb-planning@mozilla.org"><tb-planning@mozilla.org></a>
> Dátum: 17.06.2015 10:17
> Predmet: Re: Fwd: Recent Experience with people misrepresenting themselves asofficial Thunderbird
>
>Garrafrauns, 17 June 2015 09:13:06, week 24
>
>In my mind, this is the most interesting part:
>
> >>> I just went online to get your email address to send this letter to, and was
>shocked to find your Mozilla Support website has a section asking for people to
>volunteer to be support techs! Aren't any of your employees vetted?! This is
>unbelievable.
>
>There is a perception that there is (probably paid) /*employees */with Thunderbird (a
>free as in beer product) who do support. Also, the OP was prepared to pay a 450$
>contract over 2years in order to get support. Isn't that an indication that there
>would be a market for hiring "pro" support for Thunderbird? Of course this could be a
>total exception...
>
>Axel
>
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