Advertising on bottom of Webfilter block page. Hijacked?

[trans_lux]

Holy cow how could you guys think this was a good idea!
This is really unbelievable, im speechless.

[Evil_Bert]

I'm very surprised that the UT folk chose to do this in a security product. Ads in the forum I could understand, but ads in the product?

Furthermore, with revenue being raised through ads, a serious conflict of interest arises: the temptation, if not imperative, to unblock sites and permit ads that are served by Untangle.

And the decision to serve ads through a security product also calls into question what other compromising decisions, that have not been disclosed, may have been made in putting together recent Untangle releases. After all, if you're willing to trade-off security for profit, then what degree of trust can I have in the UT product?

[Dipster]

It seems, after a reboot, it's working fine now! Yay!

Originally Posted by dmorris

Then you shouldn't be seeing ads.
If you are - please call support.

[kernelzilla]

This has to be your companies' WORST idea ever! Even paid clients are seeing this garbage! I hope it's worth the $15 you'll see in revenue from it this year... I'm moving every single untangle system I maintain to a different system because this is completely hypocritical!

[pirateghost]

Originally Posted by kernelzilla

This has to be your companies' WORST idea ever! Even paid clients are seeing this garbage! I hope it's worth the $15 you'll see in revenue from it this year... I'm moving every single untangle system I maintain to a different system because this is completely hypocritical!

really? where are paid clients seeing this? did you bother to read ANYTHING related to this topic or are you just flying off the handle, pissed off that a company offering a free product is trying to generate revenue? grow up. if you have paid customers seeing the ads then call support, thats what you pay for, support.

[donhwyo]

I have nothing against Untangle making a profit. There are some better ways to do it than compromising your standards. Yes that is what allowing your own ads is. How would anyone see it as anything else.

Some one will have a hack out to kill the ads before long, I bet. If I had time and was going to keep this product I may even look at it myself. I have given up on this because a company that thinks like this can't be trusted. What else would they consider ok to make a buck. It will be a hard row to hoe to regain user confidence. Much more costly than the few bucks made by this fiasco.

Wonder why people complain about free products? Mostly because they like them and hate to see things they like trashed. When I started looking at Untangle there were no ads. One of the reasons many use it is to block ads. Now it only blocks others ads, Huge shift. What will be the next compromise when this fails to bring enough profit? It will likely be much more closed so as not to draw attention like this. I am starting to look at other solutions so I wont be surprised. Its hard to repair your reputation.

And buying the branding option that I don't need or want is blackmail! At least develop something useful to offer. Not sure what that would be but that is what you get paid for. The key to selling free software is to give a value that others are not offering. So go out and make something I can't live without. That is the old fashioned way to make money.

Don

[sky-knight]

Please read, Untangle changed the policy from requiring the purchase of the branding module to requiring the purchase of "any" module. Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE can benefit from the policy manager.

[donhwyo]

Hi thanks

I agree policy mgr is useful for some. It is overkill for my small network. But at-least it is offering some value. Besides if I see someone abusing company time they will soon be gone. I don't need an app for that.

Again I am willing to pay for something that will give me an added value. Heck I might even pay for Untangle itself if it came to that. But it would need to be that much better than the free alternatives out there that I saw the value of it. I probably set a pretty high bar there but that is because I can do a lot on my own. For others maybe they can't and support may be the key. That is where you and others or Untangle can take over and add value. Value is what people are willing to pay for.

Policy Manager is for administrators with complex networks where one size doesn't fit all. Many organizations need to provide unique privileges to different sets of users like schools (teachers vs. students), libraries (librarians vs. public Internet terminals) or businesses with different departmental requirements (engineering vs. sales.) Policy Manager even makes it possible to block access to common productivity-killing websites like Myspace or Facebook during working hours, but keep it available during lunch and after hours.

Ads are the tip of the iceberg. You know something bigger is there and try to avoid it.

Thanks,
Don

[johndball]

Originally Posted by dmorris

it was spyware blocker blocking that site. it has been removed because its not a spyware site.
you should now be able to go there.

Thanks Dmorris, good to go now...

[Rhino Box]

The product that we sell as Rhino Box only goes out to the market with Paid Apps, but today we where doing some tests on some boxes fresh installed and OHH MY GOD, Ads on the Web Filter Page? That is not such a good idea for a security product, we will never sell a Rhino without the minimal required paid apps, but this shift of revenue is awfull. I like Untangle very much but if the standard customer that just asks "hey on our business we have tried Untangle, isn't that the box that advertise Adware with the Spyware and Web Filter blocker?" That would be very, very, very bad, and it is just around the corner. I have always thought, to build a good reputation takes years, even decades, but to drown it, it can take just one update!

Untangle Dev team, understood the revenue needs, but re-analyze this ad-block-needs, it is horrible and it is lowering the Untangle great idea reputation.